iStock; Peabody/YouTube; Samantha Lee/Business Insider
- Lyft is set to debuted on the Nasdaq on Friday morning at a valuation of $21 billion.
- Here are the 15 biggest "unicorns," or private tech companies valued at over $1 billion.
Ride-sharing app Lyft priced its initial public offering Thursday at $72 per share, giving the company a valuation of $21 billion.
The company was known as a "unicorn" for being privately held and worth over $1 billion. To mark Lyft’s IPO, we compiled a list of the 15 biggest unicorns, many of which are also contemplating to go public.
The full list is dominated by US companies, with three Chinese companies and one based in Singapore also making the cut. All figures have been sourced from CB Insights and are accurate as of January 2019, with Juul Labs’ valuation updated to reflect a big money investment from Altria.
Of particular note is Lyft rival Uber, which is planning to list in the coming months. The IPO market had previously stalled given stock-market volatility and the government shutdown earlier this year. The bounce-back in stocks has re-opened the IPO market. If the market stays buoyant, there may be a "unicorn" stampede.
1: Toutiao (Bytedance)
Business Inisder
Rank: 1
Valuation: $75 billion
Country: China
Industry: Digital Media/Artificial Intelligence
Description: Creator of video app Tik Tok, the company competes with Chinese tech heavyweights Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. Tik Tok helps create and share short videos.
Toutiao recently purchased competitor Music.ly and shifted accounts to the Tik Tok user interface. The combined company has over 500 million active users.
Select investors: Sequoia Capital China, SIG Asia Investments, Sina Weibo, Softbank Group
Source: CB Insights, January 2019
2: Uber
Michael Cohen/Getty Images for The New York Times
Rank: 2
Valuation: $72 billion
Country: US
Industry: Ride-sharing app
Description: Revolutionized personal transport by pioneering ride sharing, often breaking up taxi monopolies in cities across the world.
The company has an IPO planned for April, about a month after Lyft’s Nasdaq debut.
Select investors: Lowercase Capital, Benchmark Capital, Google Ventures
Source: CB Insights, January 2019
Didi Chuxing
Carlos Jasso/Reuters
Rank: 3
Valuation: $56 billion
Country: China
Industry: Ride-sharing app
Description: Chinese ride-sharing app Didi Chuxing is the product of a merger between Didi and Uber’s Chinese business, prompted by the two groups relentless competition with each other.
Uber China, formerly a joint venture between Uber and Baidu, investors retain a 20% stake in the group. SoftBank recently announced an additional $1.6 investment in March.
Select investors: Matrix Partners, Tiger Global Management, Softbank Corp.
Source: CB Insights, January 2019
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – areddy@businessinsider.com (Arjun Reddy)