The Digital 100: The World's Most Valuable Startups
Welcome to the Digital 100: The World's Most Valuable Internet Startups!
In this year's list, we've looked at and evaluated more than 300 startups and ranked the top 100.
We're looking at common stock value here--the price the public market might put on the company (not the valuations achieved using sweetheart terms in some preferred stock deals).
So what are the 100 most valuable digital startups in the world?
Facebook tops our list again, with a valuation of $25 billion, up radically from $6.5 billion last year. Facebook continues to grow at a tremendous clip and now has more than 500 million users worldwide. The company will generate revenue of over $1 billion in 2010 and become cash flow positive.
Rounding out the top five: Zynga, the social game developer; Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia we think could be worth $5 billion if it tried to make money; Skype, which might go for $5 billion in an open market; and Craigslist, the wildly popular listings site that could coin money if it ever decided to do so.
Click here to scroll through the Digital 100 →
About The List
Last year, we expanded our original list, the SAI 25, into the SAI 50+. We valued and ranked some of the world’s leading private online companies.
This year we expanded our search and analysis yet again. We found a ton more companies that are earning a lot of money and / or growing their businesses rapidly. The result is this year’s new and improved "Digital 100" -- 100 of the world's most valuable private digital startups.
Notable companies not included on last year’s list include Groupon, the beloved daily deal site.
What's New
A lot has happened in the past year: The economy crept back from the beating it took the last two years, venture funding trickled in for category winners, and online advertising staged a comeback (of sorts). E-commerce and virtual goods sales, meanwhile, continued to hold up relatively well.
As a result, there are some changes to last year’s rankings. Most notably, LinkedIn, the professional networking site, doubled in value, perhaps reflecting the shift in job-hunting strategies with the rebounding economy.
Methodology
We used the same valuation methodology as have the last two years, which you can read about in detail here. Obviously, our valuations are only as good as the information we have, so please feel free to comment in the post or send an email to afusfeld@businessinsider.com.
The Digital 100 Top Ten:
1. Facebook
2. Zynga
3. Wikipedia
4. Skype
5. Craigslist
6. Twitter
7. Vente-Privee
8. Yandex
9. Betfair
10. LinkedIn
See all in order →
Complete Coverage
Acknowledgments
We want to thank the hundreds of our users, companies, investors, and executives who have taken time over the past few months to submit nominations and share information with us. We thank our colleague Adam Fusfeld for performing most of the background research. In addition, we thank our generous sponsors British Airways and NYSE for making the project possible. The financial analysis was performed by Henry Blodget, Heather Leonard, Nicholas Carlson, and Adam Fusfeld, with additional research by Cooper Smith.
1. Facebook
Estimated Value: $25 billion
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #1 / $6.5 billion
Business: Facebook is the largest social networking site in the world with more than 500 million users, up 66% from 300 million users last year. According to Compete, it’s the third largest web property based on unique visitors.
Location: Palo Alto, California
More Info: About Facebook
CEO: Mark Zuckerberg
Investors: The company has raised more than $400M in funding since 2008. Microsoft ($246M), Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing ($60M), Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital Partners ($25M), Accel Partners ($12.8M), PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel ($500,000), European Founders Fund ($15M), Digital Sky Technologies ($200M) and TriplePoint Capital ($100M).
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Facebook is dominating the Internet. It has left a wake of waning competitors in its path (MySpace, Ning, Bebo). It just replaced Google as the number one destination users spend most of their time. Revenue last year was estimated at around $700 million with branded and performance advertising comprising the bulk. The company has had considerable success selling ads due to its size, brand, and ability to develop products like engagement ads that interact with users. Facebook is also rumored to deepen its search relationship with Microsoft by mining anonimized data from consumer usage, illustrating the importance of Facebook’s massive information-generating audience, not too mention likely pissing off Google.
Mark Zuckerberg has stated that 2010 revenue estimates of between $1 billion and $1.1 billion “are not so far off." If we take the conservative end of that range and apply a 25x multiple due to its incredible growth, emerging market segments, low cost of goods, app platform and advertising and gaming potential, we get a $25 billion valuation. Additionally, Elevation Partners recently purchased 2.4 million shares in the secondary market implying a valuation of $23 billion. Shares are trading as high as $34 billion on Sharespost, a whopping 30x estimated sales and more than eBay's market cap.
2. Zynga
Estimated Value: $5 billion
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #12 / $1.2 billion
Business: Social Gaming
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Zynga
CEO: Mark Pincus
Investors: Zynga has raised a total of $510 million. Series A ($10M): Avalon Ventures, Clarium Capital, Foundry Group, Pilot Group, Union Square Ventures, Reid Hoffman, Peter Thiel, Bob Pittman, Andy Russell, Brad Feld, Series B ($29M): Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Union Square Ventures, Institutional Venture Partners Foundry Group, Avalon Ventures. Series C ($180M): Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global, Digital Sky Technologies and Kevin Rose. Series D ($300M): Softbank and Google.
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Zynga has established itself as the standout leader in social gaming with over 50 million daily active users playing its games. The company is estimated to rake in more than $500 million in revenue this year from a combination of ads and virtual goods. This is up 150% from an estimated $200 million last year. We are bullish on the social gaming market since it doesn't require heavy development costs like traditional games.
Zynga lives primarily on social networks like Facebook where people are spending incredible amounts of time. Finally the virtual goods model is a high-margin business that is finally grabbing hold in the U.S. Many of the gaming companies trade at between 5-10x sales. If we apply the high-end of this range to account for the leadership, we come to $5 billion valuation.
3. Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)
Estimated Value: $5 billion
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #2 / $5 billion
Business: The Wikimedia Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit. Its asset is a global user-generated encyclopedia that relies heavily on donations and on profit fundraising activities.
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Wikipedia
Executive Director: Sue Gardner
Investors: Vinod Khosla, Open Society Institute, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Omidyar Network as well as countless individual donors
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Being a non-profit, the company doesn't operate with the goal of generating revenue. In 2010, as donations continue to rise, the Wikimedia Foundation is expected to generate revenue of $20.4 million, a 28% year-over-year increase. Wikipedia, as a property, is one of the top 10 sites online globally. If it were converted to a for-profit, therefore, and run with the intention of making money, it would make a lot.
Wikipedia pageviews are estimated around 10-14 billion per month. If you assume conservative annual pages views of 100 billion and conservative $5 per thousand page views you get a potential revenue number of around $500 million. The company's costs are minimal since its content is contributed to by the public for free. As a result, its profit margins would be well above 50%, leading us to give it 10x revenue multiple. This brings us to a valuation of $5 billion, in line with last year as competition from Facebook, Twitter and other user-centric news sources has skyrocketed.
4. Skype
Estimated Value: $4 billion
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A (part of eBay last year)
Business: The online telephone and messaging company
Location: Luxembourg
More Info: About Skype
CEO: Josh Silverman
Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Index Ventures, eBay, Andreessen Horowitz, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Silver Lake Partners. eBay completed the sale of Skype, valuing the company at $2.75 billion late last year. The investor consortium, led by Silver Lake Partners, bought the company and will control a 70% stake.
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Now that Google has built simple telephone-calling into Gmail, this service will be required for any company that wants to offer an online communications tool (think Microsoft Outlook, Facebook, Yahoo, etc.) Meanwhile, the old carrier model of charging for "minutes" will increasingly go the way of the dodo bird. Skype is the independent leader in this market, and it has been quietly growing its business while (absurdly) being hidden inside eBay. But that's over. Once Skype goes public (or possibly before), someone will develop the gonads to make a play for it. And as soon as one big player does, others will follow. Potential buyers include Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Verizon (though unlikely). In the meantime, revenue for the first half of the year was $400 million implying revenue of $800 million in 2010. If we apply just over a 5x multiple, we get a $4 billion valuation.
5. Craigslist
Estimated Value: $3 billion
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #5 / $3 billion
Business: Classified ads
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Craigslist
CEO: Jim Buckmaster
Investors: eBay acquired 25% of equity in 2004 for $30+ million. Recently Craigslist enacted a poison pill that diluted eBay’s stake in the company from 28% to just under 25%, which a judge has ruled was in breach of their fiduciary trust. That said, eBay still won't be able to appoint a director even after its stake is restored, thanks to a staggered election provision that remains in place.
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Newspaper revenue has dropped to levels not seen in over 40 years. Craigslist remains one of many newspaper killers. The classified listing site famously charges for only a small percentage of its ads like job and real-estate ads in about 18 major metropolitan cities. If the company actually went after real revenue by charging for a lot more of its classified ads, it could generate at least $1 billion in revenue.
Being a private company, revenue figures aren’t disclosed. However, we estimate the company will generate about $122 million with operation margins between 70-80%. As such, we are giving the company a healthy 25x multiple on untapped revenue and high profit margins. This brings us to a $3 billion valuation, flat from last year due to the downturn in the real-estate and job market (the two classification areas which the company charges for).
6. Twitter
Estimated Value: $3 billion
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #15 / $1 billion
Business: Messaging, microblogging and social networking service
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Twitter
CEO: Evan Williams
Investors: Charles River Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Marc Andreessen, Dick Costolo
Naval Ravikant, Ron Conway, Chris Sacca, Bezos Expeditions, Spark Capital, Digital Garage, Kevin Rose, Tim Ferriss, Benchmark Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, Insight Venture Partners, T. Rowe Price, Morgan Stanley (nice IPO leverage), Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital and Digital Garage.
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Twitter, last year’s “it” start-up darling, is experiencing monster messaging growth. Tweets are up to 90 million per day, according to Twitter CEO Ev Williams. That's a ~450% increase from under 20 million a year ago and more than 1.5 tweets per day from the 145 million users. The problem for Twitter is traffic only grew 100% during the same period. That’s going to be troublesome over the long haul. However, the company recently unveiled New Twitter which will most likely lure more users to the actual Twitter site rather than having to go through third-party apps. That should, in the long run, help Twitter sell more brand advertising. The company will start pushing out paid Tweet ads (which function much like conventional display ads) more aggressively in the next few months.
The most recent round of funding (a year ago) valued the company at $1 billion. Unfortunately, we don't have any updated revenue or financial metrics to base our valuation on. That said, Twitter is unique. It has killed all of its competitors, and it continues to grow (albeit at a slower rate). The company is in the early stages of developing a business model, and early reports on the performance of its "sponsored tweets" is good. Google is NOWHERE in social networking, and it desperately wants to be. Microsoft, meanwhile, has finally pulled the plug on its own would-be Twitter-killer. If either of these cash-rich companies want to have a hope in hell of building a social business, they'll take a deep breath and write the check. Given the semblance of a business model, the vibrant ecosystem not to mention the untapped potential, we think $3 billion is a reasonable valuation. According to Sharespost secondary market, buyers give the company a valuation as high as $3.6 billion (with a low of $2.6 billion).
7. Vente-Privee
Estimated Value: $2.5 billion
Last Years Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Members only, high-end e-commerce
Location: Paris, France
More Info: About Vente-Privee
CEO: Jacques-Antoine Granjon
Investors: Summit Partners (20% stake)
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Vente-Privee began in France in 2001. Last year it became a powerhouse of a new wave of members-only e-commerce sites (BuyVIP, null, Gilt Groupe, Ideeli, Rue La La). The company offers online private sales clubs involving designer fashion brands (know as the overstock market). Last fall, the company was rumored to be talking about a $1.5 billion sale. Some sources even put the figure at between $2 billion and $4 billion. It was rumored that Amazon was also sniffing around at $3 billion.
Vente-Privee did £650M (~$940M) in gross sales globally in 2009. On nearly $1B in global sales, if we apply a 2.5x multiple we get to a valuation of $2.5B.
8. Yandex
Estimated Value: $2.5 billion
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #7 / $2.6 billion
Business: Russia’s largest search engine and internet company
Location: Moscow, Russia
More Info: About Yandex
CEO: Arkady Volozh
Investors: Baring Vostok Capital Partners, ru-Net Holdings, Tiger Technology Global Management
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Yandex is Russia's Google, however its revenue pales in comparison to that of our search giant.The company reported down revenue in 2009 due to Ruble devaluation. Yandex revenues in USD decreased 9% year-on-year from $300 million in 2008 to $274 million in 2009. The company also lost the Mail.ru search partnership deal to Google. That said, Russia represents a sizable search opportunity for those that emerge as leaders in the space. As a result, we apply a 9x multiple to revenue to derive a $2.5 billion valuation.
9. Betfair
Estimated Value: $2.3 billion
Last Year’s Rank / Valuation: #3 / $4.5 billion
Business: Gambling site
Location: London, United Kingdom (and San Francisco)
More Info: About Betfair
CEO: David Yu
Investors: Index Ventures, JP Morgan Partners, Benchmark Capital, UBS Capital, Balderton Capital, and Soft Bank
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Vices always seem to hold up well during tough economic times. Case in point, Betfair's revenue last year was £303M (~$425M), up 26% from the prior year. The company generates 20%-plus EBITDA profit margin as well. Given strong revenue growth, solid margins and a resilient business model, recently filed to go public with a valuation estimated at approximately £1.5B ($2.3B). If we apply a 5x sales multiple, we come up with a $2.3B valuation.
10. LinkedIn
Estimated Value: $2.2 billion
Last Year’s Ranking / Valuation: #14 / $1.1 billion
Business: Social networking site focused on professionals
Location: Mountain View, California
More Info: About LinkedIn
CEO: Jeff Weiner
Investors: Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, European Founders Fund, Bain Capital Ventures, SAP Ventures, Goldman Sachs and McGraw Hill
Sharespost Index
Analysis: LinkedIn's social-networking-for-professionals has grown to more than 75 million members in over 200 countries. Traffic has increased from about 29 million last year to over 45 million, according to Quantcast. Given the current state of the job market, we believe the company's premium subscription model and paid job postings will grow significantly this year, with revenue estimated north of $200 million in 2010, up from approximately $110 million last year. Shares in the secondary market on Sharespost are trading between a $1.8 and $2.4 billion valuation. Given a healthy ~10x revenue multiple gives the company a $2.2 valuation and the higher mid-point range of the secondary market valuation.
11. Groupon
Estimated Value: $2.0 billion
Last Year's Ranking / Valuation: N/A
Business: Daily deal website that sells "groupons" to users - the discount is only valid if a certain number of people sign up.
Location: Chicago, Illinois (with a growing office in Palo Alto, California)
More Info: About Groupon
CEO: Andrew Mason
Investors: $173 million in total venture capital raised. Angel round ($1M): Eric Lefkofsky, Brad Keywell. Series A ($6.8M): New Enterprise Associates. Series B ($30M): Accel Partners, New Enterprise Associates. Series C ($135M): Digital Sky Technologies, Battery Ventures, Accel Partners, and New Enterprise Associates.
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Groupon has invented a new form of marketing that will become as much a part of everyday advertising and commerce as classified ads used to be. Groupon has been so wildly successful that, in the space of a year, more than 100 Groupon clones have sprung up to capitalize on the "daily deal" concept, but none of them has gained anywhere near the traction Groupon has.
Estimated revenue for 2010 ranges from $200-$400 million. Given the company’s market lead, staggering user growth (1 million new users weekly), we give the company a 5x multiple on the high-end of the revenue range for a valuation of $2.0 billion. Shares are also selling between a valuation of $800K and $2 billion on Sharespost.
Groupon is also take-out target. The company will no doubt demand a massive premium, but visionary companies like Amazon or eBay or Walmart might realize that Groupon's success will be hard to emulate. And then they'll pony up to as much as $4 billion (10x gross sales).
12. Taobao
Estimated Value: $1.5 billion
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online shopping marketplace
Location: Hangzhou, China
More Info: About Taobao
CEO: Zhao-Xin Lu
Investors: Alibaba
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Taobao serves more than 210 million registered. Gross merchandise sales in 2009 exceeded $29 billion. Growth in the Chinese market is set to explode over the next decade as under 2% of total retail trade was online in 2009. Taobao attracts more than 40 million unique visitors daily and is one of the top 20 most visited sites in the world, according to Alexa.
Alibaba Group said it expects gross merchandise volume on Taobao to double to 400 billion Chinese Yuan in 2010 (~$58 billion). In separate reports from Goldman Sachs and Piper Jaffray, analysts anticipate Taobao’s total revenue in 2010 at between $500-600 million. Given the retail sector trades at between 2-4x sales, we’ve given Taobao a 3x multiple yielding a valuation of $1.5 billion.
13. Mozilla Corp.
Estimated Value: $1.5 billion
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #6 / $2.7 billion
Business: Open source browser Firefox
Location: Mountain View, California
More Info: About Mozilla
CEO: NA (no replacement has been announced since John Lilly stepped down)
Investors: AOL, Mitch Kapor
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Mozilla makes a ton of bank just off its licensing deal with Google, or rumored at about 85% of total revenue. That’s not a lot of diversification. The Google deal will end November 2011 and the concern becomes will Google continue given the launch Chrome? Since the deal was signed, Google has delivered versions of its Windows, Linux and Mac Chrome browsers, as well as multiple extensions. This would enable the company to break its financial bond with Mozilla. If that happens, it would be an enormous financial blow to open source browser. It's interesting to point out that Chrome's market share has come at the expense of Microsoft; not of Firefox, with Firefox holding steady at around 30% market share over the last year.
We estimate Mozilla revenue to be in the $150-200 million range for 2010. As a result of the potential demise of the Google deal, we've taken our revenue multiple down to 10x (from 15x last year) giving the company a $1.5 billion valuation on the low-end of revenue.
14. HomeAway
Estimated Value: $1.5 billion
Last Year's Ranking / Valuation: N/A
Business: Vacation home rental service
Location: Austin, Texas
More Info: About HomeAway
CEO: Brian Sharples
Investors: $479 million in total venture capital raised. Austin Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Institutional Venture Partners, Trident Capital, American Capital, and Technology Crossover Ventures.
Sharespost Index
Analysis: HomeAway is a massive vacation home rental service roll-up with more than 215,000 properties and 480,000 paid vacation rental home listings in 120 countries. The company is rumored to be ramping towards an IPO, likely in 2011. We estimate 2010 revenue to be in the $200-$300 million range with about a 35% profit margin. If we apply a 5x multiple to the high-end of the sales range, we get an estimated valuation of $1.5 billion.
15. Tudou
Estimated Value: $1.5 billion
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #27 / $500 million
Business: Online video
Location: Shanghai, China
More Info: About Tudou
CEO: Gary Wang
Investors: IDG China, Granite Global Ventures, JAFCO, General Catalyst Partners, Venrock, and Capital Today
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Tudou is one of the largest video sharing websites in China with market share of 16%, behind that of Youku at 20% (for the second quarter). That said, revenue numbers paint a different picture. Whereas Youku is estimated to book approximately $50+ million in revenue in 2010, Tudou is expected to print triple that. Seems like one knows how to monetize content better than the other, or something. That said, the company is likely losing a lot of money due to high bandwidth and licensing costs. Online video aggregators have come under scrutiny recently due to questions about the viability of their business models, but we still believe the opportunity is still large in the space and there is value in the leaders while the industry figures out how to turn viewers into profits.
Tudou CEO Wang Wei recently stated that the company's online video ad revenue may reach BMB 1 billion in 2010 ($150 million). He also stated that its online video ad revenue is expected to double or triple 2011 ($300 to $450 million USD). If we apply a 10x multiple given the tremendous growth in online usage in China we get a valuation of $1.5 billion.
16. GoDaddy
Estimated Value: $1.2 billion
Last Year’s Rank / Valuation: #9 / $1.4 billion
Business: Domain registration and hosting
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
More Info: About GoDaddy
CEO: Bob Parsons
Investors: Self-Funded
Sharespost Index
Analysis: In a report from the Wall Street Journal, Bob Parsons is tuckered out. GoDaddy is on the auction block, hiring Qatalyst Partners (the boutique firm run by veteran technology banker Frank Quattrone) to find a buyer. We think there is more room to grow in the domain registration and hosting space, especially as it becomes easier for people to build websites. Obviously it will be difficult for the company to achieve the kind of rapid growth it saw since its 1997 launch.
We estimate GoDaddy will generate $1 billion in revenue this year, up from between $750 and $800 million last year. We apply just over a 1x revenue multiple (1.2x) resulting in a $1.2 billion valuation.
17. Hulu
Estimated Value: $1 billion
Last Year’s Rank / Valuation: #23 / $750 million
Business: Online video service that offers a selection of TV shows, clips and movies
Location: Los Angeles, California
More Info: About Hulu
CEO: Jason Kilar
Investors: Providence Equity Partners, The Walt Disney Company, NBC Universal and News Corp.
Sharespost Index
Analysis: The market for the living room is completely fragmented with nearly every competitor falling under one of the three categories: hardware (Roku, TiVo, WD TV Live, Popbox, etc.), platform (Sonic Solutions, Yahoo!, VUDU, etc.) and content (Hulu, Netflix). Hulu is one of the leading content plays. And given that “content is king” and Hulu has premium content, the company is able to charge a higher CMP rate that online networks (lacking broadcast quality content) can’t compete with. The company recently launched Hulu Plus, its ad-supported, subscription offering. For $9.99 / month, iPhone and iPad users can view significantly more shows (back seasons and/or full seasons).
According to the New York Times, Hulu is approaching investment banks to underwrite an IPO this fall valuing the company at $2 billion. Revenues for the video site were $100 million last year, and are expected to reach $200-$250 million this year. Of that, we've heard Hulu keeps only 35-40%. So, even with a decent top line, Hulu's bottom line is believed to be small.
On gross revenue estimates of $250 million, we apply a 4x multiple (given the low margin and various competitive concerns) giving the company a valuation of $1 billion.
18. AdKnowledge
Estimated Value: $900 million
Last Year’s Rank / Valuation: #22 / $750 million
Business: Ad Network
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
More Info: About Adknowledge
CEO: Scott Lynn
Investors: Technology Crossover Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: AdKnowledge's multi-platform ad network has a revenue run rate of about $300 million. While the company has grown organically, it has been gobbling up companies like it’s Google (including Miva, KITN Media, Lookery, Adonomics, Super Rewards and Hydra).
The jury is still out on how well ad networks will continue to perform given the growth of bidding exchanges and the growing perception among publishers that networks undervalue online ad inventory. Given the strength in revenue but questions about the industry, we apply a 3x multiple to revenue, resulting in a $900 million valuation.
19. TheLadders.com
Estimated Value: $800 million
Last Year’s Rank / Valuation: #19 / $810 million
Business: A subscription-based job search and recruiting site for positions paying $100K+
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About TheLadders.com
CEO: Marc Cenedella
Investors: Matrix Partners, Kevin Ryan, Roger Ehrenberg, Tom Matlack, Megunticook Management, Robert Chefitz and NJTC Venture Fund
Sharespost Index
Analysis: According to Quantcast, TheLadders saw its traffic peak in January 2009 as everyone was losing their job. Since then, visitation has slipped. Perhaps because the people seeking the $100K+ jobs either found a position, stopped looking or resigned to lower paying jobs. In any event, subscriptions have held up nicely with over 4 million paid users with 30K listings. The company has four business lines: subscriptions, resume services, online recruitment services and the international business.
Unfortunately, we do not have 2010 revenue estimates. Last year the company was rumored to have generated ~$90 million in sales. If we use a 8x multiple off an estimated $100 million of revenue we get a valuation of $800 million. Additionally, shares trade between a valuation of $700 million and $1.3 billion on Sharespost secondary market.
20. eHarmony
Estimated Value: $800 million
Last Year’s Rank / Valuation: #24 / $700 million
Business: Online Dating
Location: Pasadena, California
More Info: About eHarmony
CEO: Greg Waldorf
Investors: Fayez Sarofim & Co., Technology Crossover Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Tuputele Ventures.
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Believe it or not, people don't just use the Internet for seedy hookups. eHarmony, which operates in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK, is the destination for online daters go for "serious relationships." The company has over 33 million registered users.
The company generated $250 million in revenue last year and has been profitable since 2004. We believe online dating will continue to experience strong growth, especially those sites with strong brands like eHarmony. The high churn rates (likely the reason they stopped publishing user numbers) characteristic of online dating sites causes us to take a small haircut to our multiple though. We apply just over a 3x multiple to last year’s revenue, resulting in a $800 million valuation. Research available on Sharespost values the company between $400 and $800 million.
21. Efficient Frontier
Estimated Value: $800M
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #31 / $380 million
Business: Ad serving
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About Efficient Frontier
CEO: David Karnstedt
Investors: Cambrian Ventures, Mitsui & Co., Redpoint Ventures
Analysis: With clients such as Discover, Expedia, Match.com, and salesforce.com, Efficient Frontier appears to be thriving in the crowded marketplace. Sharepost listed them with an $800M implied valuation and that number seems accurate to us.
22. Gilt Groupe
Estimated Value: $750 million
Last Year’s Rank / Valuation: #32 / $370 million
Business: Online private sales of luxury and fashion brands
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About Gilt Groupe
CEO: Susan Lyne
Investors: $83M in total financing raised. General Atlantic, Matrix Partners
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Gilt basically takes excess inventory of luxury goods and sells them on a members-only, by-invitation-only e-commerce site. The company is well-funded and has a management team with a lot of industry experience. We think e-commerce will continue to gain share of the overall U.S. retail market, which bodes well for sites like Gilt.
The company is on track to reach as much as $400 million to $500 million in revenue this year, up from $170 million last year. Applying nearly a 2x revenue multiple (due to low e-commerce margins) brings us to a $750 million valuation.
Disclosure: Gilt Groupe shares investors with The Business Insider
23. Demand Media
Estimated Value: $750 million
Last Year’s Rank / Valuation: #10 / $1.3 billion
Business: Content creation and publisher
Location: Santa Monica, California
More Info: About Demand Media
CEO: Richard Rosenblatt
Investors: $375M in total venture capital raised. 3i Group, Generation Partners, Goldman Sachs, Oak Investment Partners, Spectrum Equity Investors
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Demand Media recently filed for an IPO. According to documents, Demand revenues reached $114 million for the six months ending June 2010 with a loss from operations of $4.3 million. That compares to $91.3 million and $11.4 million last year. The company hasn’t made a dime since its launch in 2006, in fact it’s lost a total of $52 million.
We have a few concerns. The content business is only 56% of revenue. The other 44% comes from its eNom domain registration business, which has essentially zero barriers to entry. The company's content business faces competition from rivals including About.com (NY Times), AOL and Associated Content (Yahoo!). Demand Media is also quite dependent on Google. Its do-it-yourself site eHow gets 60% of page views from Google searches. Those ad agreements are expiring over the next couple of years.
Given the company is less profitable than previously thought with the above concerns, we apply a conservative 3x multiple to annualized 2010 sales of ~$250 million and we get a valuation of $750 million.
24. Palantir Technologies
Estimated Value: $735 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Analytics software / platform
Location: Palo Alto, California
More Info: About Palantir Tech
CEO: Alexander Carp
Investors: The Founders Fund, Youniversity Ventures, Glynn Capital Management, Ulu Ventures, Jeremy Stoppelman, Ben Ling
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Palantir Tech is a high-powered analytics platform focusing mainly on the government and financial sectors (lucky them). While we have no revenue metrics to speak of, revenue has revenues have at least doubled every year for the last three years. The company raise $90 million in Series D financing this summer at a valuation of $735 million.
25. Coupons.com Inc.
Estimated Value: $600 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online coupons
Location: Mountain View, California
More Info: About Coupons.com
CEO: Steven Boal
Investors: N/A
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Coupons.com has been in the couponing business since 1998. The company has evolved to enable digital coupon programs, servicing 65,000 websites daily. While the company wouldn't elaborate on financials, we did learn from sources close to the matter that the last round of financing puts the company at a valuation of around $600 million.
26. livingsocial
Estimated Value: $600 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: eCommerce (daily social deals)
Location: Washington, D.C.
More Info: About LivingSocial
CEO: Tim O'Shaughnessy
Investors: Steve Case, Grotech Ventures, US Venture Partners, Revolution, Lightspeed Venture Partners
Sharespost Index
Analysis: LivingSocial is a group buying program that invites users to local attractions in major cities at deep discount rates (usually between 50-80% off). The company actually has comparable traffic to that of Groupon, the leader in this category and is up 72x over last year. LivingSocial has more than 85 million users and boasts of revenue of over $100 million. We apply a 6x multiple to total revenue we get a valuation of $600 million.
27. Yelp
Estimated Value: $600 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #42 / $265 million
Business: Social network for recommendations on local businesses, restaurants, and the like.
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Yelp
CEO: Jeremy Stoppelman
Investors: Max Levchin, Bessemer Venture Partners, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Yelp's has managed to successfully take on the incumbents in this space and command very high CPMs given their local targeting and active user-base. Recently, the company ran its first daily deal with Groupon in San Francisco, and it killed! Assuming Yelp pockets 30% (compared to Groupon’s 50%), the company took home $23.8K in a single day. That’s the monthly equivalent of 79 hard-earned small business advertisers on Yelp’s current advertising product.
Yelp’s 2010 annual revenue is estimated at $50 million, up from $30 million last year. We use a 6x multiple resulting in a $300 million valuation. If Yelp runs a daily deal across its major markets and gets a grand total of 10 times what they got in San Francisco yesterday, that’s the equivalent of $71.4 million of additional revenue. Shares trade in the secondary market at a valuation range of $200 - $450 million. That said, a take-out price could likely be 2x higher as the company turned down bids from both Google and Microsoft late last year in the $500 - $700 million range. We'll split the difference.
28. Youku
Estimated Value: $500 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online video
Location: Beijing, China
More Info: About Youku
CEO: Victor Koo
Investors: Farallon Capital Management, Chengwei Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, Brooksire Capital, Maverick Capital
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Youku operates the largest video-sharing service (similar to Google's YouTube) in China. The video market in China is highly fragmented with Youku only capturing 20% of the market. The company is currently moving away form user-generated content to more professional, syndicated content similar to Hulu. The company makes the bulk of its revenue from advertising. The company recorded revenue of 200 million yuan ($29.3 million) in 2009 and is estimating triple-digit growth in 2010. We estimate 2010 revenue at a conservative $50 million with a multiple of 10x given the shift in business model and increasing Chinese internet users yielding a valuation of $500 million.
29. Active Network
Estimated Value: $500 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online sports media and outdoor events social network
Location: San Diego, California
More Info: About Active Network
CEO: Dave Alberga
Investors: Austin Ventures, Ticketmaster, Kettle Partners, William Blair New World Ventures, ABS Ventures, Canaan Partners, Charles River Ventures, DB Capital Ventures, Dominion Ventures, North Bridge Venture Partners, Ticketmaster, Enterprise Partners, ESPN, Comdisco Ventures, Performance Equity Partners, Tao Venture Partners
Sharespost Index
Analysis: The Active Network is a technology solutions company that provides marketing services to encourage and enable participation in activities and events. Online communities include: Active.com, CoolRunning.com, LaxPower.com, ActiveGolf.com, etc. The company has over 75K business to business customers and over 60 million active users.
The company experienced revenue growth of over 40% last year to nearly $250 million. We anticipate similar growth this year and estimate revenue of nearly $300 million. If we apply a between a 1-2x multiple to 2010 revenue we get a valuation of approximately $500 million.
30. Pandora
Estimated Value: $500 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Streaming music online
Location: Oakland, California
More Info: About Pandora
CEO: Joe Kennedy
Investors: Labrador Ventures, Selby Venture Partners, Walden Venture Capital, Peter Gotcher, Robert Kavner, Crosslink Capital, Hearst Interactive Media, Greylock Partners, GGV Capital, Allen & Company
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Pandora is kicking butt and owning Internet radio. The company struggled to build a business for years, but when the iPhone opened up to third party applications, Pandora started adding 35,000 users per day, double what it was doing before.
At the end of 2009, Pandora reported its first profitable quarter with $50 million in annual revenue. Most revenue generated comes mostly from ads with the rest from subscriptions and payments from iTunes and Amazon when people purchase music. Revenue is estimated to be in the $100 million range this year according to William Blair. If we apply a 5x multiple to sales, we get a valuation of $500 million. Shares in the secondary market on Sharespost trade at between an implied $500 - $700 million valuation.
31. MediaBank
Estimated Value: $500 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Ad analytics platform
Location: Chicago, Illinois
More Info: About MediaBank
CEO: Bill Wise
Investors: New Enterprise Associates
Sharespost Index
Analysis: MediaBank offers tools to maximize media buying. We estimate that the company will generate about $50 million in revenue this year. If we apply a 10x multiple we come up with a valuation of $500 million.
32. Kayak
Estimated Value: $500 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #20 / $800 million
Business: Travel meta-search engine
Location: Norwalk, Connecticut
More Info: About Kayak
CEO: Steve Hafner
Investors: Accel Partners, General Catalyst Partners, GoldHill Capital
Lehman Brothers, Norwest Venture Partners, Oak Investment Partners, Sequoia Capital, Trident Capital, SVB Financial Group, AOL
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Kayak's model, where it charges travel providers per click referral, is a high-margin business. Or it was. Google's purchase of ITA software could blast a big hole in that business. Kayak uses ITA's data so it can go without scraping and handle fully-structured data. Whereas last year IPO talks were swirling with $1 billion valuations, now the water is calm.
The company's last round of financing at the end of 2007 of $196 million valued the company at $700 million or roughly 8x sales. Now, in the secondary market on Sharespost, shares are trading at $500 million given the increased competition from the search giant.
33. Everyday Health
Estimated Value: $480M
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: NR
Business: Online health information resource
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About Everyday Health
CEO: Benjamin Wolin
Investors: Foundation Capital, NeoCarta Ventures, Revolution, Rho Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Village Ventures
Analysis: Everyday Health is one of the leaders in the health field and will probably generate about $120M in revenue this year. Though it wasn't profitable as of last year, the $100M IPO it filed for earlier this year gave us insight into the company's finances. We apply a 4x multiple for a valuation of $480 million.
34. Indeed
Estimated Value: $400 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #30 / $380 million
Business: Job search engine and aggregator
Location: Stamford, Connecticut
More Info: About Indeed
CEO: Paul Forster
Investors: The New York Times Company, Union Square Ventures, Allen & Company
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Another company whose business model is suited well for the struggling job market, Indeed is a job listing search engine that aggregates job postings from around the web. Indeed is one of those business models that doesn't need to run expensive ads on its site in order to turn a profit since it gets its content for free. In addition, its Pay-Per-Click ads have held up relatively well in the past year.
We estimate Indeed will generate about $50 million in revenue this year. Due to its strong growth and high margins we apply a 8x multiple to revenue, resulting in a $400 million valuation.
35. Quantcast
Estimated Value: $350 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Media measurement and online analytics
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Quantcast
CEO: Konrad Feldman
Investors: Revolution Ventures, The Founders Fund, Polaris Venture Partners, Cisco Systems
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Quantcast has become one of the front-runners in the media measurement space by embedding code into participating websites to keep track of traffic and other useful analytics. This is quite the change from comScore / Nielsens back in the day.
The company was rumored to be raising another round of funding last summer, but because of the markets, that round was pushed to earlier this year. Pre-money valuation was around $300 million with the round totaling around $27.5 million. That brings us to our current valuation of $350 million.
36. Habbo (Sulake)
Estimated Value: $350 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #18 / $880 million
Business: Social network and virtual world
Location: Helsinki, Finland
More Info: About Habbo
CEO (of parent Sulake Corp.): Timo Soininen
Investors: 3i Group, Benchmark Capital, Finnish telecom company Elisa Group and advertising group Taivas
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Habbo Hotel serves over 15 million unique visitors from more than 150 countries in 11 different languages. Users spend a total of 45 million hours playing Habbo Hotel each month.
Between January and June 2010, Sulake’s revenue increased more than 20% compared with the same period last year (due in part from cost savings achieved through layoffs in the fourth quarter. Sales during that period were $39 million with a 63% increase in EBITDA to $4.6 million. The company remains cash flow positive.
We give Habbo between a 5x revenue multiple (the lower end of the gaming companies given the reliance on one game) on 2010 revenues of $70 million to come up with an $350 million valuation.
37. Chegg
Estimated Value: $350 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online textbook rental
Location: Santa Clara, California
More Info: About Chegg
CEO: Dan Rosensweig
Investors: Gabriel Venture Partners, Maples Investments, Primera Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Foundation Capital, Insight Venture Partners, Pinnacle Ventures, TriplePoint Capital
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Chegg is "the Netflix" of the $5 billion textbook market. The company lets students across 6,400 college campuses rent from a virtual bookstore containing over 4 million books.
The company is reportedly on track to generate $130 million in revenue this year, up 420% from $25 million last year. Given the large market opportunity, we apply a premium multiple to an eCommerce company of nearly 3x to get a valuation of $350 million.
38. Brightcove
Estimated Value: $350 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online video SaaS
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
More Info: About Brightcove
CEO: Jeremy Allaire
Investors: Accel Partners, General Catalyst Partners, AOL, IAC, Hearst Interactive Media, GE Commercial Finance, Allen & Company, Brookside Capital, Maverick Capital, New York Times, Dentsu, J-Stream, Cyber Communications, TransCosmos
Sharespost Index
Analysis: The Wall Street Journal reports that Brightcove is expected to generate $50 million in revenue this year, barely breaking even. The company raised $12 million in series D funding earlier this year at a valuation of around $350 million. Shares of the company trade in the secondary market at precisely that the same rate.
39. Federated Media
Estimated Value: $350 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #41/ $265 million
Business: High-end ad network: sells and serves ad campaigns for web sites.
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Federated Media
CEO: John Batelle
Investors: Omidyar Network, New York Times, Mitchell Kapor, Andrew Anker, Mike Homer, Tim O'Reilly, JP Morgan, Oak Investment Partners
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Federated has shifted in recent years from selling primarily display advertising to focusing more on custom sponsorships that incorporate engagement and interaction elements into ad packages. The company has found some success moving to this higher-CPM model.
We estimate revenue will reach at least $65 million, probably closer to $70 million. We apply a 5x multiple to revenue, resulting in a $350 million valuation. The shares trade on Sharespost secondary market for around last funding round valuation of $215 million.
40. Quidsi
Estimated Value: $300 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #47 / $200 million
Business: eCommerce
Location: Jersey City, New Jersey
More Info: About Quidsi
CEO: Marc Lore
Investors: Leonard Lodish, Nicholas Negroponte, BEV Capital, MentorTech Ventures, Accel Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Bessemer Venture Partners, Pinnacle Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Quidsi is the parent company of Diapers.com (baby care) and Soap.com (health, beauty and household essentials), with the kind of customer care that you would expect from a Zappos. The company reportedly generated $182.5 million in sales in 2009. The company expanded the Diapers.com product line significantly this year as well as launched Soap.com so we think the company could do quite well, in the $250 million range, Given the take out of Zappos at 1x sales, we would apply a similar multiple of between 1-2x to get a valuation of $300 million.
41. LoveFilm
Estimated Value: $300 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Europe's answer to Netflix
Location: London, United Kingdom
More Info: About LoveFilm
CEO: Simon Calver
Investors: The Accelerator Group, Index Ventures, Balderton Capital, Amazon
Sharespost Index
Analysis: LoveFilm is Europe’s leading online DVD rental subscription service with more than 1.25 million members and operates in the UK, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. The service increased its position as the market leader by acquiring Amazon’s DVD rental subscription service in 2008 (and Amazon became an investor).
In 2009, the company reported revenue of €97 million ($129 million) and operating profit €8.9 million ($11.8 million). Estimating revenue for 2010 at a conservative $150 million with a 2x sales multiple yields a valuation of $300 million. Coincidentally, rumors were circulating earlier this week that Amazon has made an offer for Lovefilm for over $300 million.
42. idealab
Estimated Value: $300 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Technology incubator
Location: Pasadena, California
More Info: About Idealab
CEO: Bill Gross
Investors: NA
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Back in 1996, Bill Gross put together an incubation company for Internet start-ups. The company raised $1 billion at the height of the Internet bubble in 2000 at a valuation of $8 billion. The company has changed radically since then, however, and now focuses on renewable energy as well as digital businesses.
Since inception, Idealab has invested in nearly 80 companies, with 6 currently in residence, 8 IPOs and 28 merger and acquisition deals. The company's average first round investment is between $2-20 million.
A source close to idealab puts the value of its stakes in its companies at $275-$300 million.
43. FreshDirect
Estimated Value: $300 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online grocer
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About FreshDirect
CEO: Rick Braddock
Investors: AIG Global Investment Corp, AIG Capital Partners, Maverick Capital, CIBC Capital Partners, Canyon Partners, Mercantile Capital Partners
Sharespost Index
Analysis: FreshDirect is an online grocer providing quality fresh foods and popular grocery and household items at competitive prices delivered to the New York area (recently launched in Connecticut. The company expects 2010 revenue to grow to $300 million from $250 million in 2009 with close to 10% EBITDA margin (higher than Kroeger at 6%). Earlier this year, the company was eying an IPO to raise money for city expansion. Given the take-out multiple on most eCommerce companies, we apply a 1x multiple to the high-end of anticipated earnings this year for a $300 valuation.
44. Etsy
Estimated Value: $300 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #51 / $180 million
Business: A site dedicated to buying and selling homemade and handmade goods ("eBay for arts and crafts").
Location: Brooklyn, New York
More Info: About Etsy
CEO: Rob Kalin
Investors: Caterina Fake, Stewart Butterfield, Joshua Schachter, Albert Wenger, Union Square Ventures, Accel Partners, Hubert Burda Media
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Etsy, the arts-and-crafts eBay, recently received a $20 million investment, valuing the company at $300 million (6-10x revenue). And business is booming. The company anticipates between gross merchandise sales of $400 million with percentage take (revenue) between $30 - $50 million which is easily triple digit growth from last year. The company is also profitable.
45. King.com
Estimated Value: $300 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online gaming
Location: London, United Kingdom
More Info: About King.com
CEO: Richard Zacconi
Investors: Apax Partners, Index Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: King.com is a large skill gaming portal with free games for more than 15 million monthly visitors. The company is estimated to have recorded revenue of around $50 million last year. At the lower end of the gaming scale with a slight increase in revenue, at 5x sales that gives us a $300 million valuation.
46. HauteLook
Estimated Value: $300 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: NR
Business: Online private sales of luxury and fashion brands
Location: Los Angeles, California
More Info: About HauteLook
CEO: Adam Bernhard
Investors: Insight Venture Partners, Matt Coffin
Analysis: The Gilt Groupe clone pulls in about $150 million in revenue. We apply the same 2x multiple we used for Gilt and arrive at a $300 million valuation.
47. Zazzle
Estimated Value: $275 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #46 / $225 million
Business: User-generated merchandise eCommerce
Location: Redwood City, California
More Info: About Zazzle
CEO: Robert Beaver
Investors: Sherpalo Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, TransCosmos
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Zazzle's user-generated merchandise e-commerce site has been around since 1999 and has quietly built a solid business while other dot-coms have gone bust. Users create many of the logos and images used on the mugs, shirts and other accessories the company sells, taking a cut of any revenue earned on the products.
We estimate the company earned about $135 million in revenue this year (up from $115 million last year) and apply a 2x multiple given a tough retail environment and e-commerce type margins. As a result, we arrive at a $275 million valuation. Shares trade in the secondary market on Sharespost at a high valuation of $279 million.
48. Vibrant Media
Estimated Value: $275 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Contextual / In-text ad network (video)
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About Vibrant Media
CEO: Doug Stevenson
Investors: Fortis, ABS Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: We estimate that Vibrant media will achieve revenue of between $125-150 million in 2010 with positive operating margin. If we apply a 2x multiple given the plethora of video ad networks, we get a valuation of $275 million.
49. Thumbplay
Estimated Value: $260 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #43 / $260 million
Business: Mobile entertainment
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About Thumbplay
CEO: Evan Schwartz
Investors: Bain Capital Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, Softbank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Brookside Capital, Cross Creek Capital, Meritech Capital Partners, Hatch Ventures, Softbank Capital
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Thumbplay raised a lot of money back in the day (when ring tone sales were booming). We believe has likely experienced some revenue growth stagnation over the past few years. That said, the company recently launched cloud-based music service that delivers unlimited music (10 million tracks under license) for $9.99 / month. Long-term Thumbplay will need to address challenges to its business, namely Apple, Google and the fact that people are buying less subscription-based mobile entertainment.
While the company is profitable, we estimate revenue is still likely under $100 million. Applying a 1.5x multiple we come up with a $150 million valuation.
50. Yodle
Estimated Value: $250 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #37 / $300 million
Business: SEM agency for local businesses
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About Yodle
CEO: Court Cunningham
Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Growth and JAFCO Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Yodle specializes in helping local businesses drive customers to their sites and in some cases builds websites for some of its clients. We estimate nearly $70 million in revenue this year, up from around $50 million last year. If you apply between a 3-4x multiple (as multiples for SEM companies have come down) you arrive at a $250 million valuation.
51. Riot Games
Estimated Value: $250 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Game development
Location: Culver City, California
More Info: About Riot Games
CEO: Brandon Beck
Investors: Benchmark Capital, FirstMark Capital, Tencent
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Riot Games is an independent game developer. The company's first title, League of Legends, is the 4th most played game in the world. We estimate the company will generate revenue of between $25-50 million this year, off of a relatively low base in 2009 given the October launch. Given the company only has one title, we will apply the lower end of the gaming multiple range of 5x for a valuation of $250 million.
52. SecondMarket
Estimated Value: $250 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online marketplace for illiquid assets
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About SecondMarket
CEO: Barry Silbert
Investors: FirstMark Capital, Li Ka-Shing, Temasek
Sharespost Index
Analysis: The site hosts markets for various securities and allows everyone from individual investors to global financial institutions to trade these assets. The company is on target to achieve revenue of $50 million this year, up from $15 million last year. If we apply a 5x multiple we get a $250 million valuation.
53. Rubicon Project
Estimated Value: $250 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Advertising
Location: Los Angeles, California
More Info: About Rubicon
CEO: Frank Addante
Investors: Clearstone Venture Partners, Square 1 Bank, Mayfield Fund, Stanford University, University of California Berkley, Matt Coffin, IDG Ventures Vietnam, Silicon Valley Bank, Peacock Equity, Jarl Mohn
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Rubicon Project is a digital advertising infrastructure company with the goal of automating buying and selling for the global online advertising. The company's technology processes over 50 billion ad transactions monthly (600 billion annually) for over 350 of the web’s largest publishers (NBC, Tribune and Time, Inc.), reaching over 550 million Internet users globally. We estimate the company will do about $100 million in revenue this year. At 2.5x sales (for advertising), we get a valuation of $250 million.
54. Ozon
Estimated value: $250 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #25 / $600 million
Business: An Amazon-esque online store that sells Russian books, movies, music and software.
Location: Moscow, Russia
More info: About Ozon
CEO: Bernard Lukey
Investors: Index Ventures, Cisco Systems, Holtzbrinch Ventures, Baring Vostok Capital Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Russia's leading e-commerce site, Ozon, has a similar model to Amazon and is positioned well as Russia's e-commerce industry is in an early stage of high growth.
We estimate revenue will increase to around $200 million (off of January to June numbers) or an increase of about 36% over last year. At a multiple between 1-2x, we derive a $250 million valuation.
55. ideeli
Estimated Value: $250 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online retail
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About ideeli
CEO: Paul Hurley
Investors: Kodiak Venture Partners, Constellation Ventures, StarVest Partners
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Ideeli is similar to Gilt Groupe in that the basic idea is designers place excess inventory on a sale site at 50 to 70% discounts over a several day period. The company is anticipated to do between $150 and $175 million in revenue this year. To get to a $250 valuation, it would be a sales multiple of between 1-2x.
56. Glam Media
Estimated Value: $375 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #33 / $360 million
Business: Fashion / style ad network
Location: Brisbane, California
More Info: About Glam Media
CEO: Samir Arora
Investors: Hubert Burda Media, GLG Partners, Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Accel Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Walden Venture Capital, Information Capital LLC, DAG Ventures, Mizuho Venture Capital
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Glam remains one of the major ad networks with plenty of cash in the bank. We remain concerned at what seems like a continuous flood of ad networks (even with recent acquisitions).
We significantly overstated revenue last year ($120 million). This year, according to inside sources, revenue will be around $75 million. At a 5x multiple for being one of the leaders in the space estimate we get a valuation of $375 million
57. Turn, Inc.
Estimated Value: $225 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Advertising
Location: Redwood City, California
More Info: About Turn, Inc.
CEO: Bill Demas
Investors: Northwest Venture Partners, Shasta Ventures, Trident Capital, Focus Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Turn is an online display advertising company with a SaaS platform. Revenues have doubled the past four years and we estimate that the company is on track to achieve revenues of between $70 - $80 million in revenue this year. If we apply a 3x multiple for an advertising-based company we get a valuation of $225 million.
58. Trialpay
Estimated Value: $200 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online payments and promotion platform
Location: Mountain View, California
More Info: About Trialpay
CEO: Alex Rampell
Investors: Baseline Ventures, Battery Ventures, Index Ventures, Bob Pittman, Ron Conway, Skype, Google, Atomico Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: TrialPay's payment and promotions platform pairs online shoppers with ideal offers. The company had a revenue run rate of $50 million back in March of 2009. We believe, given the rise in virtual currencies and online gaming, we expect the company could achieve revenue in the $75 - $100 million range this year. A valuation of $200 million assumes a multiple of 2x.
59. Thought Equity Motion
Estimated Value: $200 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Video licensing and technology platform services
Location: Denver, Colorado
More Info: About Thought Equity Motion
CEO: Kevin Schaff
Investors: N/A
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Thought Equity Motion is a footage licensing and video platform services company for media outlets such as Sony Pictures Entertainment, BBC Motion Gallery, etc. The company has a revenue run rate of $25 million over the last year, or growth of 60%. Applying a 8x multiple gives us a valuation of $200 million.
60. Tagged
Estimated Value: $200 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Social discovery and networking
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Tagged
CEO: Greg Tseng
Investors: Reid Hoffman, Mayfield Fund, Horizon Technology, Finance Management LLC, Leader Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Tagged is a social network where the focus is on meeting new people through online social games. The company has more than 80 million registered users worldwide and a daily audience of more than 4 million unique visitors. Tagged saw revenues in nearing $25 million in 2009. As social networks continue to soar as well as gaming, we estimate the company could do revenues this year in the $40-50 million range, giving the company a valuation of around $200 million with a multiple of 4-5x.
61. Sugar Inc
Estimated Value: $250 million
Last Year’s Rank / Valuation: NA
Business: Media conglomerate targeting women
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Sugar, Inc.
CEO: Brian Sugar
Investors: Sequoia Capital, NBC Universal
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Sugar is a content, social media, and commerce for women. With 14 million uniques and 100+ million monthly page-views, the company is profitable on revenues between $10 million and $50 million. At the high-end of the range, if we apply a sales multiple of 5x, we get a valuation of $250 million.
62. Specific Media
Estimated Value: $200 million
Last Year’s Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Ad network
Location: Irvine, California
More Info: About Specific Media
CEO: Tim Vanderhook
Investors: Kennet Partners, Enterprise Partners, Shepherd Ventures, Francisco Partners
Sharespost Index
Analysis: As one of the largest ad networks, especially in Europe, Specific Media has experienced significant growth over the last 4 years, both organically and through acquisitions. The company raised $100 million in 2007 to acquire smaller companies to build on its core technology. While revenue figures aren't know, we put a 2x on total funding to date for a valuation of $200 million.
63. Ning
Estimated Value: $200 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #26 / $500 million
Business: Allows users to create social networks
Location: Palo Alto, California
More Info: About Ning
CEO: Jason Rosenthal
Investors: Marc Andreessen, Reid Hoffman, Legg Mason, Allen & Company, Lightspeed Venture Partners
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Ning's continues to unravel. One month after long-time CEO Gina Bianchini was replaced by Jason Rosenthal, made huge changes. It killed off its free product, forcing existing free networks and users to either make the change to premium accounts or leave. The company also recently cut 40% of its staff.
Last year we estimated the company made about $10 million, and in light of recent headlines, we are inclined to believe growth has flatlined. Coming down from $500 million last year, and way off it's last round of funding valuation at $700 million, we think the company is likely hovering in the $200 million range.
64. MiniClip
Estimated Value: $200 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #38 / $290 million
Business: Social Gaming
Location: England
More Info: About MiniClip
CEO: Robert Small
Investors: Self-Funded
Sharespost Index
Analysis: MiniClip is likely one of the lesser known online gaming companies, but the company reaches about 60 million players every month. The company makes its money from a combination of advertising and virtual goods.
We estimate about $35 million in revenue this year and apply an 6-times multiple for a valuation around $200 million.
65. CafePress
Estimated Value: $200 million
Last Year’s Rank/Valuation: N/A
Business: Allows customers to customize apparel
Location: Foster City, California
More Info: About CafePress
CEO: Fred Durham
Investors: New Millenium Partners, PacRim Venture Management, Staenberg Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital
Sharespost Index
Analysis: CafePress is an online retailer of stock and user-customized on demand products. While financial data is not given, shares of the company trade on Sharespost secondary market for a valuation of $200 million.
66. Automattic
Estimated Value: $200 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Blogging platform software
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Automattic
CEO: Tony Schneider
Investors: Blocksmith Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, Radar Partners, True Ventures, Tony Conrad, Shelby Bonnie, New York Times
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Automatic is the power behind Wordpress. The company has rejected several acquisition offers over the years valuing the company in the $200 million range.
67. Angie's List
Estimated Value: $200 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #28 / $460 million
Business: Provides user reviews of local services.
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
More Info: About Angie's List
CEO: William S. Oesterle
Investors: Lighthouse Capital Ventures, Battery Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: With all the free service recommendation sites out there it's hard to believe people would pay up for contractor referrals, but Angie's List has been quietly running this business since 1995. The company has about 1 million subscribers who spend about $50 a year to access information from Angie's List.
The entrance of newer, free competitors in the space doesn't appear to be having an impact on Angie's List
68. Huffington Post
Estimated Value: $200 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #54 / $150 million
Business: An online news aggregator and blog
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About The Huffington Post
CEO: Eric Hippeau
Investors: Greycroft Partners, Softbank Capital, Ken Lerer, Bob Pittman, Oak Investment Partners
Sharespost Index
Analysis: The 5-year old Huffington Post is gradually becoming an established nationwide new-media brand. The company's combination of aggregation, original content and user-generated comments have put the entire newspaper industry to shame, and HuffPo is now larger online than all newspapers (with the exception of the New York Times). HuffPo is in the business Yahoo! and other content companies want to be in, and it is a unique asset that others will find hard to duplicate. It's also an excellent hedge for companies that are highly dependent on print ad revenue.
We estimate the company will generate about $30 million in 2010 revenue and apply close to a 5x multiple (higher than other blogs given growth and brand strength) to arrive at a $200 million valuation. That said, we think a take out price could be as high as $300 million.
69. Adenyo
Estimated Value: $200 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Mobile advertising
Location: Toronto, Ontario
More Info: About Adenyo
CEO: Tyler Nelson
Advisors: Canaccord Genuity
Sharespost Index
Analysis: As smartphone usage has increased over the last five years, Adenyo has experienced triple-digit growth. We estimate the company to pull in revenue of around $25 million this year. Given multiples granted to acquisitions in this space recently, we put a 8x multiple on the stock for a valuation of $200 million.
70. Datapipe
Estimated Value: $200 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Hosting solutions
Location: Jersey City, New Jersey
More Info: About Datapipe
CEO: Robb Allen
Investors: Goldman Sachs
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Datapipe provides custom managed hosting solutions. We estimate the company is EBITDA positive, generating about $17 million in operating margin annually. If we apply a 12x multiple we get a company valuation of $200 million.
71. Meebo
Estimated Value: $185 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #40 / $270 million
Business: Allows users to access most major instant messaging services through a single Web site.
Location: Mountain View, California
More Info: About Meebo
CEO: Seth Sternberg
Investors: Jafco Ventures, KTB Ventures, Time Warner Investments, Sequoia Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, True Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Five-year-old Meebo has seen incredible growth the past year as its in-browser IM for social networks becomes widely adopted. Meebo has 3x as many uniques as it did last year with 4x the revenue. While figures are unknown, shares trade in the secondary market on Sharespost at a valuation of around $185 million.
72. myYearbook
Estimated Value: $185 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Teenage social networking and gaming site
Location: New Hope, Pennsylvania
More Info: About myYearbook
CEO: Geoff Cook
Investors: US Venture Partners, First Round Capital, Northwest Venture Partners
Sharespost Index
Analysis: myYearbook is an online gaming destination targeting ages 13 - 24 to meet new people, buy new games. The company is producing cash and has a revenue run rate of around $20 - $25 million which is garnered from ads and virtual goods. Applying a 6-7x multiple we get a company value of $185 million.
73. Tremor Media
Estimated Value: $175 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online video ad network
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About Tremor Media
CEO: Jason Glickman
Investors: Canaan Partners, Masthead Venture Partners, European Founders Fund, Meritech Capital Partners, SAP Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Tirangle Peak Partners, DFJ Growth
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Tremor Media is a video advertising network providing in-stream and in-banner ads. the company has more than 177 million uniques per month to its network videos. We estimate revenues for 2010 will be in the $60-70 million range. It we apply between a 2x and 3x revenue multiple we get a valuation of $175 million.
74. Ustream
Estimated Value: $150 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online video
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Ustream
CEO: John Ham
Investors: Band of Angels, Western Technology Investment, Infinity Venture Partners, Incubator Fund, Chris Yeh, Doll Capital Management, Band of Angels, SoftBank
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Ustream is a live video platform for users to broadcast to a global audience. YouTube has been kicking the tires on a live stream for years. While no financial data is available, we estimate the company is worth 1-2x total funding of around $80 million giving it a valuation of $150 million.
75. Undertone Networks
Estimated Value: $150 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: NA
Business: Ad network, digital media buying
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About Undertone Networks
CEO: Michael Cassidy
Investors: JMI Equity, ORIX Venture Finance
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Undertone Networks is a souped-up ad network for Fortune 500 companies. We estimate that the company will pull in around $65 million in revenue this year, with positive cash flow. Given the saturation of the marketplace, we give it a 2x to 3x multiple for a valuation of $150 million.
76. Synacor
Estimated Value: $150 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Internet Solutions
Location: Buffalo, New York
More Info: About Synacor
CEO: Ronald Frankel
Investors: North Atlantic Capital, Mitsui Ventures, Crystal Internet Venture Funds, Advantage Capital Partners, Walden International, Intel Capital, Rand Capital
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Synacor is an Internet platform and a portfolio of digital content and services for broadband service providers. We estimate the company's 2010 revenue to be in the $60-70 million range. Longer term operating profit should reach around 15%. Applying a 2x to 3x multiple to sales, we get a valuation of approximately $150 million.
77. Gawker Media
Estimated Value: $150 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #49 / $190 million
Business: Online media company
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About Gawker Media
CEO: Nick Denton
Investors: Self-funded
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Gawker Media has consistently been ahead of the curve when it comes to driving traffic and monetizing that traffic with quality ad packages. Nick Denton's pageview-driven editorial vision is proving to be the future of online journalism, as painful as it is for print journalists to hear that.
Blogs don't have a ton of overhead, though employing a staff of full-time writers to churn out as much content as possible does have its limitations when it comes to scale. We apply an 3x multiple to about $50 million in estimated 2010 revenue to arrive at a $150 million valuation.
78. CafeMom
Estimated Value: $150 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Social network and community for moms
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About CafeMom
CEO: Michael Sanchez
Investors: Highland Capital Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Sharespost Index
Analysis: CafeMom is the ever-popular social network for moms, where women come together to get advice and support on various topics. We estimate the company pulls in revenue of about $25-30 million annually. Recent rumors were swirling that Yahoo! was interested in buying the company for $100 million. Seeing as though that hasn't happened, if we apply a 6x multiple to the low-end of our estimated revenue range we get a valuation of $150 million. Maybe Yahoo! should reevaluate.
79. Buddy Media
Estimated Value: $150 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Social media management platform
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About Buddy Media
CEO: Michael M. Lazerow
Investors: Roger Ehrenberg, Softbank Capital, European Founders Fund, Greycroft Partners, Ron Conway, Bay Partners
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Buddy Media provides brands and agencies a management platform for social networking. We estimate the company is on track to reach nearly $25 million in revenue this year. Given the low cost of operation, it's quite possible that the company is cash flow positive. The potential for incredible operating margin as well as room for growth we give the company a 6x revenue multiple for a valuation of $150 million.
80. Next Jump
Estimated Value: $135 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: eCommerce
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About nextjump
CEO: Charlie Kim
Investors: Kevin Parker, Ram Shriram
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Next Jump is the provider of Internet-based rewards and royalty programs of 70% of Fortune 500 corporations. The company recently took over MasterCard's rewards program and operates discount programs for roughly one third of all U.S. corporate employees. Financial benchmarks are not disclosed however given the companies incredible installed base, we would estimate that the company is valued at about 3x total funding of $45 or a valuation of $135 million.
81. Break Media
Estimated Value: $120 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Media company for dudes
Location: Beverly Hills, California
More Info: About Break Media
CEO: Keith Richman
Investors: Lionsgate
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Break Media is the third largest video network. The company is publisher of original content, with in house video, editorial and gaming groups. The company recently reported that it was on track to book $10 million in revenue in the third quarter posting a profit with positive cash flow. On annualized revenue of $40 million, if we apply a 3x multiple we get a valuation of $120 million.
82. Amobee
Estimated Value: $120 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Mobile ad serving
Location: Redwood City, California
More Info: About Amobee
CEO: Zohar Levkovitz
Investors: Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, Vodafone Ventures, Cisco, Motorola, Telefonica, Amdocs
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Given Apple's acquisition of Quattro and Google's acquisition of AdMob, the space is quite popular. The company recently acquired RingRing Media, a British booking and planning agency for mobile ad campaigns, and has stated it will continue to acquire adjacent companies. Amobee's last round of funding had a post-money valuation of $100 million, therefore we assume the tak-out premium would be around $120 million.
83. Manta
Estimated Value: $120M
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: NR
Business: Free information database on small companies
Location: Columbus, Ohio
More Info: About Manta
CEO: Pamela Springer
Investors: Athenian Venture Partners, Reservoir Venture Partners L.P.
Analysis: Manta has the third highest comScore among all sites in the business/finance catergory, trailing only Yahoo! Finance and Dow Jones & Company. They pull in 20M visits a month, and $20 million in revenue annually. We apply a 6x multiple for a $120 million valuation.
84. BetaWorks
Estimated Value: $100 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Start-up business accelerator
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About betaworks
CEO: John Borthwick
Investors: RRE Ventures, Ron Conway, Intel Capital, DFJ Growth, AOL Ventures, Softbank Capital, Lere Ventures, Founder Collective, Joshua Stylman, Peter Hershberg, Gordon Crovitz, Howard Lindzon, Pilot Group, New York Times
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Betaworks' history includes helping start companies like Bit.ly and Chartbeat, while investing in other real-time web applications like Tweetdeck, and helping in the sale of others like Summize (sold for $15 million to Twitter in 2008). Most recently the company announced it was partnering with The New York Times in offering a social news service (which is much needed for legacy publishers).
85. ScanScout Network
Estimated Value: $100 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: NA
Business: In-stream video ad network
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
More Info: About ScanScout Network
CEO: Bill Day
Investors: Angel Investment Partners, First Round Capital, General Catalyst Partners, Michael Parekh, EDB Investments, Time Warner Investments, Ron Conway
Sharespost Index
Analysis: ScanScout is an in-stream video ad network operating its SE2 platform (ScanScout Engagement Engine). We estimate the company to realize around $20 million in revenue this year with a valuation of $100 million, or 5x multiple. It can't have a ton of overhead, so the company could be approaching profitability as well.
86. Rent The Runway
Estimated Value: $100 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: eCommerce
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About Rent The Runway
CEO: Jennifer Hyman
Investors: Bain Capital Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Rent The Runway allows users to rent dresses for a fraction of the cost of buying the dress outright. The company has inventory of 12,000 dresses, 2500 accessories with over 100 designers. Rent the Runway is poised to generate $20 million in sales this year for a valuation of $100 million, or 5x sales.
87. RecycleBank
Estimated Value: $100 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Clean Technology
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About RecycleBank
CEO: Jonathan Hsu
Investors: RRE Ventures, Sigma Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, The Westly Group
Sharespost Index
Analysis: RecycleBank partners with cities and haulers to reward households for recycling. Households then earn RecycleBank Points that can be used to shop at participating businesses. The company is rumored to generate about $10 million in sales this year. Given the geographic and user growth potential coupled with the environmental impact, we apply a 10x multiple to get a valuation of $100 million.
88. PlentyOfFish
Estimated Value: $100 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online dating
Location: Vancouver, Canada
More Info: About PlentyOfFish
CEO: Markus Frind
Investors: NA
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Markus Frind, the founder and only employee is a genius (and a rich man). His online dating site, PlentyOfFish is a free for users and generates revenue from advertising. The company is rumored to make about $30 million this year. If we apply slightly more than a 3x multiple, we get a $100 million valuation. Not bad for one dude.
89. Oodle
Estimated Value: $100 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Classifieds aggregator
Location: San Mateo, California
More Info: About Oodle
CEO: Craig Donato
Investors: Greylock Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Jafco Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Oodle is an online classified community with more than 15 million monthly uniques. The company is experiencing explosive growth of between 200-300% as the company powers the Facebook Marketplace. Oodle makes money off of paid listings, and we estimate that revenue for 2010 is around $10 million. Given the incredible growth and traction, not to mention the upside from Facebook, we give the company a 10x multiple for a valuation of $100 million.
90. Media6Degrees
Estimated Value: $100 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Advertising/ Social targeting
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About Media6Degrees
CEO: Tom Phillips
Investors: Coriolis Ventures, US Venture Partners, Contour Venture Partners, Venrock
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Media6Degrees is a pioneer in social targeting, using proprietary algorithms to build custom audiences. The company is profitable with about 10% net margin on an estimated $20-22 million revenue this year. If we apply a 5x multiple to the lower end of the range we get a valuation of $100 million.
91. Foursquare
Estimated Value: $100 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Location-based social network
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About Foursquare
CEO: Dennis Crowley
Investors: Union Square Ventures, O’Reiley AlphaTech Ventures, Jack Dorsey, Kevin Rose, Alex Rainert, Ron Conway, Joshua Schachter Chad Stoller, Sergio Salvatore, Andreessen Horowitz
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Foursquare is a location-based social networking service, mostly used on smartphones. Users "check-in" to various venues they're at which allows other users keep track of where their friends are hanging out. The company has signed numerous partnerships with big brands to promote the service, and is working on business development projects with local merchants. Facebook recently launched Places, which essentially does the same thing. Many are speculating that this launch will be the downfall of Foursquare.
Given the company raised $20 million this summer at a valuation of close to $100 million, we will go with that as our valuation metric as no financials are available on the company.
92. Linden Lab
Estimated Value: $100 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #21 / $800 million
Business: Virtual worlds creator
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Linden Lab
CEO: Philip Rosedale
Investors: Benchmark Capital, Catamount Ventures, Kapor Enterprises, Inc., Omidyar Network, Mitch Kapor, Jeff Bezos, Globespan Capital Partners
Sharespost Index
Analysis: It was a difficult summer for Linden Lab. The company announced that it was laying off 30% of its staff and taking Second Life into a new direction, not to mention Mark Kingdon stepped down and founder Philip Rosedale took over.
93. Eventbrite
Estimated Value: $100 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Event management and sales
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Eventbrite
CEO: Kevin Hartz
Investors: Michael Birch, Roelof Botha, Saran Chari, Jeff Clavier, Ron Conway, European Founders Fund, Ryan Gilbert, Joe Greenstein, Kevin Hartz, Peter Jackson, Jawed Karim, Keith Rabois, David Sacks, Steve Apfelberg, Brian Phillips, Sean Ellis
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Eventbrite brings socialism to ticketing. The company is currently focused on building out verticals. The company closed out 2009 with pushing over $100 in gross ticket sales and has a goal of $1 billion over the next several years. That said, Eventbrite's take is only 2.5%, so on $1 billion in sales, that's only $25 million dollars. Given the ancillary businesses the company could launch, we give the company a 4x multiple on future GMS or a valuation of $100 million.
94. Digg
Estimated Value: $100 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #50 / $190 million
Business: Social news and content sharing site
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Digg
CEO: Matt Williams
Investors: Greylock Partners, Omidyar Network, Marc Andreessen, Reid Hoffman, Ron Conway, Mike Maples, Al Avery, Highland Capital Partners, SVB Financial Group
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Digg's user-generated news-tagging model is being destroyed by Facebook, Twitter and Reddit (amongst others). Recently, the company launched its long-awaited redesign that was supposed to help it recapture some of its former glory. What happened was significant backlash, with a spike in competitor traffic.
That said, we estimate the company to generate approximately $20 million in revenue this year coupled with low-overhead. If we apply a 5x revenue multiple (down from 15x last year) it results in a $100 million valuation. The company's last round of financing valued the company at around $150 million, however shares now trade on Sharespost for between $50-80 million valuation given the increase in competition and uncertain future.
95. Blurb
Estimated Value: $100 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: eCommerce
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About Blurb
CEO: Eileen Gittins
Investors: Anthem Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, Hercules Technology, Growth Capital
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Blurb (along with photo sharing sites) is destroying album sales. The company created and shipped more than 1.2 million books in 2009. Blurb is profitable and achieved more than 50% year-over-year revenue growth with 2009 sales of more than $45 million. Applying a 2x sales multiple to minimal growth this year (which is very conservative), the company achieves a valuation of $100 million.
96. Better World Books
Estimated Value: $100
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: eCommerce
Location: Mishawaka, Indiana
More Info: About Better World Books
Founders: Christopher Fuchs and Xavier Helgesen
Investors: Good Capital
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Better World Books collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide. The company booked revenue of $45M for its fiscal year ending in June and has positive EBITDA margins. If we apply a 2x revenue multiple and assume minimal top line growth we get a valuation of $100 million.
97. Playspan
Estimated Value: $100 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Monetization solutions
Location: Santa Clara, California
More Info: About Playspan
CEO: Karl Mehta
Investors: Easton Capital, Menlo Ventures, Novel TMT Ventures, STIC International, Vodafone Ventures, Softbank Bodhi Fund
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Playspan is a monetization vehicle for social games and networks. The company experienced enormous revenue growth on $200 million of gross transaction sales. The company's take is approximately 10%, or $20 million in sales. Applying a 5-6x multiple we get a valuation of $100 million.
98. Pontiflex
Estimated Value: $90M
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: NR
Business: Social and e-mail acquisition platform
Location: Brooklyn, New York
More Info: About Pontiflex
CEO: Zephrin Lasker
Investors: New Atlantic Ventures, Greenhill SAVP, RRE Ventures
Analysis: Pontiflex aims to help advertisers reach digital media users. They run ads from Fortune 500 companies and earn CPMs greater than $25 by only taking a cut from actual sign-ups. This year we estimate they'll earn $15M in revenue – up 150 percent from 2009. We apply a 6x multiple for a $90M valuation.
99. ngmoco
Estimated Value: $80 million
Last Year's Valuation: N/A
Business: Mobile Gaming
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About ngmoco
CEO: Neil Young
Investors: iFund, Norwest Venture Partners, Maples Investments, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Institutional Venture Partners, Google Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: ngmoco is an iOS developer which Google took a stake in recently to port games over to Android. The company is profitable and we hear the last round of funding gave the company between a $80 and $100 million valuation. No concrete financials are known at this point.
100. KickApps
Estimated Value: $80 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Hosted social applications
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About KickApps
CEO: Alex Blum
Investors: Spark Capital, Prism VentureWorks, Softbank Capital, Jarl Mohn, North Atlantic Capital
Sharespost Index
Analysis: KickApps makes money by charging hosting fees at around $3,000/month. The company will likely generate revenue of approximately $12 million this year, with goals of $20 million next year. Valued off of the growth potential at a 4x revenue multiple we get a valuation of $80 million.
101. Buzzmedia
Estimated Value: $80 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: NA
Business: Pop culture new media
Location: Hollywood, California
More Info: About BuzzMedia
CEO: Tyler Goldman
Investors: Focus Ventures, Anthem Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Sutter Hill Ventures, and Universal Music Group
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Buzzmedia is an entertainment publisher reaching more than 50 million monthly uniques worldwide. The company owns 40 brands (including Buzznet, Celebuzz, etc.). Not much information is disclosed about the company, however it has raised $45 million in funding. If we apply a nearly 2x multiple on total funding, we get a valuation of $80 million.
102. Thrillist
Estimated Value: $75 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Online Newsletter Service
Location: New York, New York
More Info: About Thrillist
CEO: Ben Lerer
Investors: NA
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Thrillist is a digital lifestyle publication, currently reaching over 2 million subscribers in 17 markets. We estimate that the company is on track to reach sales of between $10 - $15 million this year with double digit growth likely next year. Given a 5x multiple on the upper range of sales and we get a valuation of $75 million.
103. hi5
Estimated Value: $75 million
Last Year Rank / Valuation: #34 / $350 million
Business: Social network and entertainment
Location: San Francisco, California
More Info: About hi5
CEO: Bill Grossman
Investors: Mohr Davidow Ventures, Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Crosslink Capital
Sharespost Index
Analysis: hi5 has been around since 2003 so is one of the oldest social networks. It recently added virtual goods to its revenue mix (versus just advertising). Adding a the virtual good line item should help the company achieve flat to up revenue of approximately $25 million. As Facebook continues to dominate social networking, we are inclined to give hi5 a lower multiple of about 3x sales or $75 million.
104. Zillow
Estimated Value: $60 million
Last Year's Rank / Valuation: #57 / $60 million
Business: Real estate info site
Location: Seattle, Washington
More Info: About Zillow
CEO: Spencer Rascoff (recently took over for Richard Barton)
Investors: Benchmark Capital, Technology Crossover Ventures, PAR Capital Management, Legg Mason
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Zillow is best known for providing estimated property values on 100 million homes throughout the U.S. for 12.5 million visitors a month. Zillow boosted sales 65% year-over-year despite the collapse in housing and advertising. The company became cash flow positive on revenues in the $20 - $30 million range this year. Given the growth amidst the downturn in the housing market, we give the company a 2x valuation or a valuation of $60 million, flat with last year. This is a slight premium to the multiple that Move.com trades at in the market (1.6x). This valuation is a huge haircut from the post-money valuation garnered in the last round of funding in 2007 which valued the company at around $400 million.
105. Auditude
Estimated Value: $50 million
Last Year Rank / Valuation: N/A
Business: Video management and monetization platform
Location: Palo Alto, California
More Info: About Auditude
CEO: Adam Cahan
Investors: Greylock Partners, Repoint Ventures
Sharespost Index
Analysis: Auditude is a video management platform that helps users monetize content. We estimate that the company is on track to generate revenue between $5 - $10 million this year, or a $50 million valuation at 10x sales.
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