
The Next Wave of ‘Unicorn’ Startups - rm2889
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/technology/new-wave-unicorn-start-ups.html
======
drdaeman
I didn't knew the meaning of "unicorn" when applied to companies. Maybe I'm
the only person who still hadn't, but if there are others - to save them a
search query:

"A unicorn is a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion." \-
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicorn_(finance)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicorn_\(finance\))

~~~
glbrew
Yeah I'd say the majority of people here know what a unicorn is.

~~~
jeffwass
The parent is one of “today’s lucky 10,000”

[https://xkcd.com/1053/](https://xkcd.com/1053/)

------
aresant
"Wow, 11 of these 50 were funded by Y Combinator:" \- Paul Graham via Twitter
- worth a read of that thread in which PG also notes that he has had nothing
to do w/class selection since 2014:

[https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1095075300852019201](https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1095075300852019201)

~~~
sametmax
That makes it sound like a PR piece.

~~~
asadlionpk
*submarine

~~~
jd20
Made me wonder how likely it was that "Funded by YC" was one of the criteria
used by the analyst to come up with the list.

~~~
DenisM
It has to be. _Many_ people know how to write software, only few get ongoing
advice from the industry's top advisors and have a line out the door to fund
them. King-making is a thing, even if only a partial thing.

------
jhallenworld
The online pharmacy (Alto Pharmacy) and online doctor (KRY) are the ones that
sound like they could be unicorns, but they are going against entrenched
interests.

Uber took on cab drivers and won. Doctors and pharmacists have much stronger
quasi-unions (the AMA and AphA).

~~~
Kiro
Kry has already won in Sweden. The resistance is dead.

------
tomphoolery
Earnin is a scam that disproportionately targets young poor black/latino
people. It's JG Wentworth in an app. Doesn't count as a unicorn because it's
not innovative at all.

~~~
gingerbread-man
The payday lending industry operates within an intrinsically challenging
ethical landscape. Their customers are generally poor, often desperate, and
proportionately vulnerable. But payday lenders also don't operate within a
vacuum: often the costs of high-interest-rate loans are dwarfed by comparison
to the late-payment fees charged by credit cards, landlords, insurance
companies, doctors offices, auto lenders, bank overdrafts, etc... As the
saying goes, it's expensive to be poor. In one survey of payday loan customers
performed by GWU Business School, 89% of borrowers said they were "very
satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with their most recent payday loan. [1] No
one wants to be in that situation, but for some, payday loans are the best or
only option.

It's one thing to call out the kind of deliberately predatory behavior that
has thrived in the payday lending industry, but it seems like Earnin is
earnestly trying to provide a service that many Americans outside (and inside)
the Bay Area fall back on, in the fairest and least-predatory way possible. As
far as I'm concerned, that's something to be applauded, not scorned.

[1] [https://reason.org/wp-
content/uploads/files/payday_lending_r...](https://reason.org/wp-
content/uploads/files/payday_lending_regulation.pdf)

~~~
pytester
Payday lenders don't operate within a vacuum but people would still be better
off if they didn't operate at all:

[https://www.responsiblelending.org/sites/default/files/nodes...](https://www.responsiblelending.org/sites/default/files/nodes/files/research-
publication/crl_shark_free_waters_aug2016.pdf)

~~~
simplecomplex
Speak for yourself. A payday loan was the only thing that bailed me out from
missing rent and getting evicted.

Payday loans are a lot less predatory than every major bank credit card. They
at least ensure you have money to pay them back.

~~~
pytester
The study showed that people showed a strong tendency to tap other options
where payday operators weren't available and ended up financially better off
overall.

------
basseq
Demographics:

21 in California (16 in San Fran)

11 in APAC

9 on the East Coast (including MapBox)

3 in Europe

3 in S. America

3 in "other US"

~~~
kaikai
Mapbox is also in sf, with most of the company leadership based there (I used
to work there)

~~~
person_of_color
Why did you leave?

------
rrdharan
Seems like the linked article is more an analysis / summary and doesn't
actually have the list, which is in _this_ linked article:

[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/technology/these-50-start...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/technology/these-50-start-
ups-may-be-the-next-unicorns.html)

Did they rejigger things since the submission?

------
ackbar03
They site a lot of stuff from cbinsights. I don't know about others but I find
cbinsights analysis a bit sloppy sometimes. They kept crowing about the
potentials blockchain and how it was the future all through the crash as
though it wasn't even taking place. They also had this piece about we work
which painted them in glowing colors right in the aftermath of the additional
funding from softbank not coming through, giving fluffy reasons why they think
their still going to continue to upend the industry. Plus all their emails end
with "I love you" which is getting old and annoying. Not intentionally
smashing them but just making the point that aside from the numeric data they
collect on startups which is pretty cool, I'm skeptical about using their
analysis pieces as a proper source

------
freyir
It looks like the list and the commentary are on separate pages:

List:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/technology/these-50-start...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/technology/these-50-start-
ups-may-be-the-next-unicorns.html)

Commentary: [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/technology/new-wave-
unico...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/technology/new-wave-unicorn-
start-ups.html)

------
dr_
They should describe how they came up with this list. For example, Alto
pharmacy, which appears to primarily operate in California, is on the list.
They raised $50 million last December. Capsule pharmacy, which essentially
does the same thing, primarily operates out of NYC. They also raised $50
million a few months earlier, in August 2018, but are not on this list. Wonder
why?

~~~
web007
Amount of funding != value of company

A funding round is for X% of a company at $Y dollars, which values the company
at $ ((100 / X) * Y).

Looking at two recent announcements that I follow, Aurora raised $530mm at
$2.5b valuation and Nuro raised $940mm valued at $2.7b. Aurora sold ~21%
ownership, and Nuro sold ~34% ownership, but both ended up around the same
valuation.

~~~
dr_
I realize that, and I don’t have the valuation numbers for either company,
presumably CB Insights does. But using the example you gave, if there were a
list of companies entering the 3 billion valuation, business fundamentals
aside, I’d be hard pressed to pick between Aurora and Nuro.

------
chadmhorner
Honestly haven't heard of any of those potential unicorns (except Zola), but I
guess that is sort of the point!

------
yowlingcat
This list looks positively anemic. How is this anything but a business insider
esque PR puff piece?

------
anongraddebt
I'm not sure how up to date the wiki unicorn list is, but for those
interested:

China (131) U.S. (85) India (20)

\----

Some of those listed will likely fall-off in the near future (e.g. Ofo).

------
DeonPenny
Mapbox, Check, Marqeta, and Segment are basically already unicorns. Wouldn't
be surprised to see them IPO in the next 3 years.

------
huntermeyer
No Paywall: [https://outline.com/qp6P8w](https://outline.com/qp6P8w)

------
dmode
Despite predictions to the contrary, San Francisco (and Bay Area) continues to
kill it when it comes to unicorn production

~~~
chrisco255
Who predicted the contrary?

~~~
yuy910616
how about the economist? I wouldn't say 'predict', but definitely painting a
negative portrait

[https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/08/30/why-startups-
ar...](https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/08/30/why-startups-are-leaving-
silicon-valley)

