It is really, really difficult to create a company and grow it to the point where investors believe it is worth $1 billion or more. That milestone is so difficult to achieve, in fact, that investors call companies that do this “unicorns.”
Out of the hundreds of startups launched every year, just 17 made the grade in 2014.
Does money really make the world go round? Well, I’m not sure about that, whatever Liza Minnelli says, but what I do know is that getting money from pocket A to pocket B is a key area of focus in the global financial technology (fintech) scene right now.
Of the four main fintech segments that investors are most actively looking at (lending; personal finance; payments; and bitcoin/blockchain technologies), payment businesses are the most prolific.
The Boston area boasts hundreds of tech companies doing interesting things—tiny startups, publicly traded giants and every varietal in between.
Our recent 50 on Fire finalists in tech should give you some sense about the biggest achievers in Boston tech for 2014... But that's yesterday's news. So for 2015, here’s a look at 15 of the local companies we plan to keep an especially close eye on.
Artificial intelligence is clearly on the mind of the biggest companies in tech. Of note, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently called the development of artificial intelligence one of his top three key goals over the next 10 years. IBM launched a $100M Watson venture fund in January. And Google has already acquired a handful of AI startups including DeepMind Technologies of the UK for $500M.
With big moves taking place in the space, we took a look in the CB Insights database to pick a few up-and-coming startups that might be worth keeping an eye on in machine learning, natural language processing and who are working in the area of AI
These startups are seed or Series A companies that have received funding since the start of 2013.
Mixpanel, which describes itself as offering “the most advanced analytics platform ever,” is announcing that it has raised $65 million in new funding.
That round comes entirely from previous investor Andreessen Horowitz, and co-founder/CEO Suhail Doshi told me that it values Mixpanel at $865 million (the valuation includes the new cash).
The children’s activity planning site ActivityHero has acquired Zoetic, which offers an app that lets users discover and share new places, activities, and events.
Up to this point ActivityHero has acted as a marketplace where activity sellers (like children’s camps) could connect with parents looking for things for the kids to do — a sort of OpenTable for kids’ activities. The Zoetic people, technology, and intellectual property will bring a new focus on mobile and activity discovery.
Zoetic’s mobile app uses a lot of crowdsourced discovery and reviews content to give users activity ideas.
Last night, I stepped into Marquee night club in New York City. David Guetta was on the set list. People were dressed their best, lights were flashing, and I had a fresh glass full of booze in hand. I should have been excited, but instead my head just hurt.
Am I getting old? Are clubs just getting louder?
In either case, Dubs Acoustic Filters solved my problems.
Repasamos las inversiones más importantes que se han cerrado en el sector de las startups tecnológicas en España durante el mes anterior, en este caso el de octubre.
Descripción: Startup de compraventa de entradas en todos los sectores del ocio.
Inversores: En la ronda ha acudido la firma de capital riesgo Active Venture Partners. Con los fondos captados en esta ronda, la startup sobrepasa los €10 millones tras los €3,5 millones captados en julio de 2013.
