Time to polish the crystal ball. There are more than 50,000 venture-backed startups in the U.S., and only the tiniest fraction of them will ever reach a billion-dollar valuation. For the ninth year in a row, Forbes has teamed with TrueBridge Capital Partners to search for the 25 most likely to pass that mark. Our track record is superb: Of the list’s 200 alumni, 120 have become unicorns, including DoorDash, Benchling, Duolingo and Rippling; another 27 were acquired, while three went public for less than $1 billion. Only five imploded or shut down, although at least 21 of our alumni that previously surpassed $1 billion are now worth less than that. Given banking troubles, layoffs, skittish investors and compressed valuations, it has been a tough year to pick winners. But from more than 200 nominations, we think these 25, presented in alphabetical order, have the best chance of becoming stars.

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24 thoughts on “Next Billion-Dollar Startups: The 25 Companies Most Likely To Hit Unicorn Status”
  1. This diversity talk is really making me itch. What is the underlying data of for example funding rounds started by black founders? If the data shows that black founders start as many funding rounds as white founders and they only end up getting 1% of the funding we can clearly say there’s some racist things going on here. But if the numbers are very different between black and white we can just be looking at a normal situation here, not even taking into account the industries they would be active in for example. Just curious because a lot of things are now forced under the “diversification” umbrella which don’t make any business sense.

  2. And how many of these will fold or their ceo's will be found guilty of fraud. Forbes 30 under 30 has an impeccable record of praising founders who end up in jail.

  3. TLDR: The key idea of the video is that this year's potential billion-dollar startups are largely focused on AI and data, with a significant emphasis on sustainability, revenue growth, and employee growth, but there is still a lack of diversity among the founders.

    00:00 💰 This year's list of potential billion-dollar startups includes a significant number of AI and data companies, as well as companies focused on the important but less glamorous back-end work.
    00:54 💰 The list features companies that are on a high growth trajectory, judging based on sustainability, revenue, and employee growth, with a focus on those likely to reach a billion dollar valuation.
    01:53 🚜 Monarch Tractor, a company that produces autonomous electric tractors, generated $22 million in revenue last year and is expected to triple it this year, disrupting the industry and even collaborating with big players like CNHI.
    02:40 📈 Pendulum Therapeutics is a probiotics maker, Hermius is a speculative company working on Hypersonic Jets with revenue from the Pentagon, and Jellyfish is a software company aiming to be Salesforce for engineers, addressing the increasing need for visibility in engineering teams.
    03:46 📊 We selected 25 potential unicorn companies from a pool of 50,000 venture-backed companies in the US, based on nominations and financial data analysis, with some companies opting out due to not meeting criteria or not wanting to share their numbers.
    05:34 💰 The amount of money going into these VC-backed companies reflects the state of the economy and venture capital, with some companies stockpiling cash from previous rounds.
    06:18 📈 Companies stockpiled during good times, allowing them to continue operating during tighter times, and the next wave of successful companies are using AI but not generative AI, with many of them not being involved in major controversies or already being billion-dollar startups.
    07:28 📊 The companies most likely to hit unicorn status are achieving more with less funding, but there is still a lack of diversity among the founders.

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