The valuation of a startup is one of the ways to measure its impact. CB Insights has compiled a report on the highest valued startups in the world. Many startups are united by their quest for achieving the valuation of $1billion or more. There are more than 500 unicorn startups in the world as of November 2020.
A startup’s value is determined by its ability to create a compelling value proposition for the market, its size, recent exits, demand for the products and execution capabilities. As many as six of the top 10 startups are from the US, three are from China and one from India. Here’s a look at the highest valued startups in the world.
1. ByteDance
ByteDance is a Chinese AI startup & the parent company of TikTok. The company was founded by Zhang Yiming in 2012. The company has a staggering valuation of $140 billion in just 8 years since it was founded.
ByteDance has a core product offering called Toutiao. It is a content platform serving the global market. While Toutiao started as a new recommendation engine, it has evolved into a content platform for delivering contextual content based on user preferences. ByteDance had over 800 million daily active users in November 2018 & overall 1 billion users on its content platforms.
ByteDance uses machine learning algorithms to understand content (videos, text and images) and provides personalised information recommendations for its users. The company has also developed a AI bot that can write news articles within 2 seconds after the event. The company has a revenue of around $20 billion in 2019 and over 60,000 employees around the world.
2. Didi Chuxing
Another Chinese company, Didi Chuxing grabs the spot for the second highest valued startup at $62 billion. The company provides transportation and on demand ride sharing options for users. It was founded by Cheng Wei in 2012.
Didi Chuxing also provides automobile services including sales, leasing, financing and maintenance of vehicles with automakers. The company provides on demand digital platforms for automakers to reach users. The company has 550 million users as of 2019 and over 11,000 employees.
Uber China was acquired by Didi in 2016 at $35 billion. Uber China was reported losing $1 billion annually at the time. Uber also picked up a minority stake in Didi as part of this deal.
3. SpaceX
SpaceX is one of the most popular startups in the world. The space exploration startup is one of the most ambitious projects started by Elon Musk in 2002. The goal of the company is to reduce space transportation costs.
SpaceX was the first private company to send a liquid propellant rocket to reach the orbit in 2008. It is also the first private company to send astronauts into space and have developed reusable rocket prototype. The US based startup had a revenue of $2 billion in 2019 and employs over 8,000 people as of May 2002.
4. Stripe
Stripe is an American startup and financial services company. It is headquartered in San Francisco. The company was founded by Irish brothers, John and Patrick Collison in 2010. The financial services company developed a SaaS based platform for payment transactions on ecommerce sites, mobile apps and web applications around the world.
Stripe provides APIs for businesses to help them send and accept payments over the internet. Stripe has a valuation of $36 billion and is the fourth highest valued startup in the world. It has over 2,500 employees & a revenue of $380 million in 2019.
5. AirBnB
AirBnB is the world’s most popular online vacation rental marketplace. The startup was founded by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk in 2008. According to CB Insights report, the startup is valued at $18 billion.
AirBnB provides on demand rental accommodation to millions of users worldwide. It also offers an easy way for people to list their rental properties and earn money with online bookings. The company had a revenue of $4.7 billion in 2019 and employs 6,300 people as of 2020.
AirBnB has been affected due to Covid and the company had to fire 25% of its staff this year & significant drop in rental bookings this year. However, the startup is all set for an IPO in December 2020.
6. Kuaishou
Kuaishou is another video sharing Chinese start-up that is among the most valued. The company was founded by Su Hua & Cheng Yixiao in 2011 and is a TikTok competitor. Apart from China, the app remains among the most downloaded in Google Play & Apple App store.
Kuaishou has a valuation of $18 billion. It has over 200 million active daily users on its platform as of 2019. The company uses AI for creating video content tailored for users. The company generated a revenue of $7.2 billion in 2019 & employs around 2,400 people.
7. Instacart
Instacart is a grocery delivery & pick-up service in America & Canada. The startup was founded in 2012 by Apoorva Mehta, Max Mullen and Brandon Leonardo. The on demand service allows users to order online grocery & provides them options from various retailers with a personal shopper. The personal shopper is a recommendation engine based on user preferences.
Instacart is headquartered in San Francisco, California and serves over 5,500 cities in America and Canada. Instacart has a valuation of $18 billion.
8. Epic Games
Epic Games is an American game and software development company. Epic Games was founded by Tim Sweeney in 1991, back then the company was known as Potomac Computer Systems. The company was started in his parents’ house.
The company built Games as a service for its users. The traditional video games are now being offered as an online service to the users (GaaS). In 2019, Epic Games reported a revenue of $4.2 billion. Epic Games had over 1,000 employees as of 2020.
9. One97 Communications/PayTM
One97 Communications is the parent company of PayTM. It is the most valuable Indian startup as of now with a valuation of $16 billion. PayTM is an online payment system and financial technology company. The wallet service from PayTM is used for online shopping, mobile recharges, train bookings, grocery stores, tolls, pharmacies etc.
PayTM was founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma in 2010. The company now provides digital wallet services, banking, & PayTM Mall app for its users. The company generates revenue from commissions on usage of its platform and from escrow amounts from its wallet services. The startup had a revenue of $500 million in 2019. PayTM employs close to 10,000 people in India.
10. DoorDash
DoorDash is the second food delivery service to be featured among the 10 highest valued startups in the world. It offers logistics services to offer food delivery from restaurants on-demand to its users. DoorDash was founded in 2013 by Tony Xu, Evan Moore, Stanley Tang and Andy Fang. The American company has expanded to serve over 4,000 cities and covers over 340,000 restaurants/stores in the US, Canada & Australia.
The startup is valued at $16 billion and had a revenue of $1.9 billion as per Nov 2020 SEC filing. The company generates its revenues from commissions it receives on orders placed on its platform. It employs around 3,279 people as of Nov 2020.
