In the eighth annual Disruptor 50 list, US-based broadcaster CNBC identified “private companies whose breakthroughs are influencing business and market competition at an accelerated pace”.
The group of academics who mainly helped select the 50 picked startups with corporate venturing backing in more than 80% of cases.
Though it used to have a reputation of being “dumb money” and being unable to access the top startups, the corporate venturing industry is now working more collaboratively with other parts of the investment ecosystem to develop startups into a new wave of billion-dollar businesses.
The 50 companies selected using the proprietary Disruptor 50 methodology have raised more than $74bn in venture capital, according to data provider PitchBook, and in aggregate have been valued at near-$277bn.
Only eight of the 50 were backed by venture capital rather than corporate venture capital, and only one was private equity-backed.
GCV analysed the Disruptor 50 to show our latest news coverage of these innovative startups.
| 1 | Stripe | Unlocking the lockdown’s biggest value
Analysis: Stripe gets paid $850m Digital payment provider Stripe raised an extension to its series G round backed by Alphabet in late April. |
| 2 | Coupang | Beating Bezos at his own online game?
Coupang cops another $2bn from SoftBank SoftBank’s Vision Fund provided $1bn for the e-commerce marketplace at a $9bn valuation in November 2018, three years after a $1bn investment by its parent company. |
| 3 | Indigo Agriculture | The future of farming is carbon negative
Indigo Agriculture harvests $200m FedEx contributed to a $175m convertible equity round for agricultural technology and services provider Indigo in January, secured alongside $25m in debt financing. |
| 4 | Coursera | Online ed’s biggest test begins
Coursera signs up for $103m series E module Seek Group led a series E round in April 2019 that valued Coursera at more than $1bn, boosting the online education provider’s total funding to more than $313m. |
| 5 | Klarna | No online sale left behind
Commonwealth Bank returns to Klarna with $200m The payment and shopping app developer launched in Australia in January with the help of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which raised its stake to 5.5%. |
| 6 | Tempus | Precision medicine for the Covid crisis
Tempus successfully tempts Novo in $100m round The pharmaceutical firm was among the investors in a series G round that valued the precision medicine technology provider at $5bn in March. |
| 7 | Zipline | Medicine takes flight autonomously
Zipline speeds up with $190m Medical supplies delivery service Zipline revealed two funding rounds totalling $190m in May, one of which is a $70m series C that included existing backer GV. |
| 8 | SoFi | The future of your financial future
SoFi sorts out another $500m SoftBank and Renren-backed online financial services provider SoFi was valued at $4.8bn following a $500m round led by QIA in May. |
| 9 | Neteera Technologies | Contactless health
Skin in the game for Plug and Play and Q Ventures Neteera is funded by Plug and Play and Q Venture Partners, with $8.5m in total, according to Crunchbase. Its tech is used for non-invasive monitoring of human vital signs. |
| 10 | Gojek | Indonesia’s original ridehail, growing up
Gojek carts away $1.2bn Unnamed investors added $1.2bn in March to a round already featuring AIA, Mitsubishi, Visa, SCB, Astra International, Tencent, JD.com and Google that reportedly totals near $3bn. |
| 11 | WeLab | Branchless banking
WeLab produces $156m result Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund was one of five returning backers to reinvest in the online lending platform as part of its series C round in December. |
| 12 | DoorDash | The most in-demand in on-demand
DoorDash chases $15bn valuation in next round The SoftBank-backed food delivery app developer was reportedly close to raising new funding at a pre-money valuation in excess of $15bn in June. |
| 13 | Heal | The next big thing in medicine: housecalls?
Heal scores $20m from strategic investors House-calls-from-doctors provider Heal closed $20m in additional funding in May, bringing the company’s total capital raised to more than $69m. |
| 14 | Movandi | A network key to the 5G future
Movandi waves hello to $27m Movandi, which creates 5G millimeter wave networks, raised $27m in Series C funding in April to accelerate and extend the range of real world deployments. WRVI Capital led the round. |
| 15 | Better.com | Closing the mortgage gap online
Corporates bet on Better in $160m series C Ping An Global Voyager Fund and American Express Ventures were among the investors in a round the mortgage financing platform closed at a $600m valuation in August 2019. |
| 16 | Grab | Southeast Asia’s super app
Grab takes $856m amidst Gojek merger rumours Reports in February suggested Grab, which raised $856m from strategic partners TIS and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, is in talks to merge with rival Gojek in a $23bn deal. |
| 17 | Lemonade | AI-ing the end of the insurance agent
Lemonade to pour itself on to public markets SoftBank, Allianz, XL Innovate and GV are in line for exits after the digital insurance providerfiled for a $100m initial public offering in June. |
| 18 | Root Insurance | Replacing demographics with real driver data
Root Insurance raises $350m Car insurance startup Root Insurance is set to raise $350m in a round that would take its valuation to $3.65bn. The Series E will be led by new investors Coatue Management and DST Global. |
| 19 | Healthy.io | Home-based health testing
Healthy.io sells Samsung on $60m series C Existing investor Samsung Next returned for a $60m series C round in September as Healthy.io secured regulatory clearance for its app-based kidney disease test. |
| 20 | GoodRx | Technology tackling the high cost of health care
GoodRx valued at $2.8bn after PE investment Silver Lake, the technology-focused private equity firm, has taken a stake in health-technology startup GoodRx valuing it at about $2.8bn, according to people familiar with the matter. |
| 21 | Eat JUST | Just the egg, no chicken
Just sets $200m funding course Just, the Uni-President Enterprises-backed, plant-based food supplier, was seeking $200m in fresh funding primarily from Chinese investors in February 2019. |
| 22 | goPuff | The convenience store gets more convenient
GoPuff gets $750m funding delivery The online convenience store raised $750m in August 2019, in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund, The Information reported. Other investors included Accel. |
| 23 | Affirm | Building new credit history
Affirm looks to raise $1.5bn on $3bn valuation Pymnts.com reported in September that New York VC firm Thrive Capital was at the helm of the financing and Spark Capital was participating. |
| 24 | Kabbage | A main street lending lifeline
Kabbage receives $250m SoftBank investment Existing investor SoftBank agreed to invest $250m in the small-business lender in 2017, increasing its overall funding to about $490m since 2009. |
| 25 | Chime | No-fee banking
Chime checks in to $500m series E Mobile bank operator Chime closed a $500m series E round in December at a $5.8bn valuation – an increase of $4.3bn in nine months – backed by Access Industries. |
| 26 | Dave | Taking down the overdraft Goliath
Dave banks on Norwest to raise $50m Norwest Venture Partners acquired a 5% stake in JPMorgan Chase and Chernin Group-backed digital banking service provider Dave at a $1bn valuation in October. |
| 27 | Trulioo | Verification for a more virtual world
Trulioo authenticates series C funding Citi Ventures, Santander InnoVentures and American Express Ventures chipped in for a $52.8m series C round revealed in September with approximately $7.6m in follow-on funding. |
| 28 | Ripple | A crypto answer to money transfer
Ripple wraps up $200m series C SBI returned in December for a round that increased the valuation of the blockchain-focused money transfer platform to $10bn from a reported $355m three years ago. |
| 29 | Tala | Making microloans add up to a billion
Tala tallies up $110m Alphabet-backed microfinance app developer Tala secured the series D funding in August 2019 at a reported $750m valuation, with PayPal among the participants. |
| 30 | Didi Chuxing | Riding a post-Covid pickup in China
SoftBank to settle $300m round for Didi Chuxing In March, the ride hailing service was reportedly near to raising $300m in a round led by existing backer SoftBank that will follow $18.3bn in earlier financing. |
| 31 | SentinelOne | Cybercrime is up; so are defences
SentinelOne gets $200m present Qualcomm Ventures contributed to a series E round in February that boosted the endpoint cybersecurity software provider’s post-money valuation to $1.1bn. |
| 32 | Butterfly Network | A smarter ultrasound
Fosun catches Butterfly in $250m series D Fosun Pharma contributed to a $250m series D round for medical device maker Butterfly Network in September 2018, valuing the company at $1.25bn. |
| 33 | Marqeta | Paying with a full deck of cards
Marqeta makes off with $150m An undisclosed investor provided the funding at a $4.3bn valuation in May.The company has already raised nearly $370m from backers including Commerzbank, Visa and CreditEase. |
| 34 | Apeel | Ridding the world of rotten produce
New $250m round helps Apeel Apeel is tackling the world’s wasted food problem with a $250 million round of new funding and a $1bn valuation, according to Crunchbase in May. GIC led the round. |
| 35 | K Health | Primary (smartphone) care
Corporates cater to K Health in $48m round Anthem and existing investor Comcast Ventures took part in a round in March that reportedly boosted medical advice app developer K Health’s overall funding to about $97m. |
| 36 | Databricks | Data help for data nerds
Analysis: Databricks cements a $400m round Big data platform Databricks raised $400m in October, reportedly at $6.2bn valuation, with the backing of Microsoft.Corporates have been investing heavily in big data tech. |
| 37 | C3.ai | Building a bigger brain
C3.ai adds Rise Fund C3.ai‚ the AI and IoT software platform provider for digital transformation‚ in January 2018 announced a round of financing by existing investors TPG Growth, Breyer Capital, Sutter Hill‚ Pat House and Thomas Siebel. The Rise Fund joined the round. |
| 38 | Attabotics | Amazon’s ant-size competition
Attabotics retrieves $25m in series B round Honeywell and Comcast Ventures took part in the August 2019 round, boosting the total raised by the warehouse management system provider to nearly $33m. Coatue Management, Forerunner Ventures and Werklund Ventures’ Growth Fund also took part in the round. |
| 39 | Clear | Biometric screening for a new world of hidden dangers
Clear scans $15m in new funding Existing investor T Rowe Price provided $15m for biometric security technology provider Clear in April 2017, which received an undisclosed amount from Delta Air Lines in 2016 for a 5% stake. |
| 40 | Snowflake | A data warehouse in the cloud
Snowflake to crystallise IPO plans In June, Capital One and Salesforce-backed cloud database provider Snowflake confidentially filed for an initial public offering that could value it at up to $20bn, according to Bloomberg. The company most recently secured $479m in a series G round co-led by Salesforce’s corporate venture capital unit, Salesforce Ventures. |
| 41 | Airbnb | Your delayed destination
Airbnb adds $1bn in new round Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners supplied debt and equity financing for the Alphabet-backed online short-term accommodation platform in April at a $26bn valuation. |
| 42 | Duolingo | The universal language
Duolingo converses with CapitalG for $30m Language teaching app Duolingo received series F funding from existing backer CapitalG in December and was valued at $1.5bn. |
| 43 | LanzaTech | A carbon-capture moonshot
LanzaJet takes off with $50m Suncor, Mitsui and ANA provided equity funding for LanzaTech’s sustainable aviation fuel spinoff alongside a grant from the US government in June. |
| 44 | Ginkgo Bioworks | The world’s most advanced manufacturing
Gingko traces Illumina for $70m round Illumina, General Atlantic and Viking Global Investors supplied $70m for Ginkgo Bioworks in May. The cell programming technology provider that has now raised more than $789m. |
| 45 | Guild Education | Upskilling America
Guild Education studies $157m series D Salesforce Ventures and Workday Ventures provided follow-on funding for edtech developer Guild Education in Novemember, which has now raised more than $228m. |
| 46 | Robinhood | The new bull market-makers
Robinhood captures $280m series F Robinhood fetched an $8.3bn valuation in May thanks to a $280m series F round featuring existing backers, though it was unclear if Alphabet and Roc Nation were among them. |
| 47 | Convoy | A monster trucking problem solved
Convoy carries $400m series D CapitalG returned for the $400m series D in November that brought Convoy’s total funding to $668m, after the Alphabet subsidiary had previously led a $185m series C round. |
| 48 | Beautycounter | A makeover for the cosmetics industry
Beautycounter receives Mousse Partners cash Beautycounter, which makes safer skin care and cleaner cosmetics, announced that family office Mousse Partners Limited had made a strategic investment in January 2018. TPG Growth also participated in the round, having invested in the company in 2014. |
| 49 | Impossible Foods | Doesn’t seem so impossible anymore, does it?
Impossible Foods husbands $500m F round The US-based plant-based meat producer backed by internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet, raised $500m in March – substantially more than the $300m to $400m it had been targeting.. |
| 50 | UiPath | The robots are coming for your boring, repetitive job
UiPath heads to $568m series D CapitalG once again backed automation software provider UiPath in May, as it closed its series D round at a $7bn valuation to take its total funding to nearly $1.1bn. |
