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| New billion dollar startup unicorns in 2015 |
Uber, already the most valuable private tech company in the world, is rumored to be raising a new round of funding that would value the company around $60 billion.
And this year alone, 70 startups became members of the "unicorn club," meaning new rounds of funding valued these companies at $1 billion or higher.
42 of those companies are US based, according to research analytics firm CB Insights. We've rounded those companies up and ranked them from least to most valuable.
42. Datto
41. Kabbage
40. AppDirect
AppDirect cofounder Nicolas Desmarais and Daniel Saks
Founded: 2009
What it does: AppDirect is a sort of middleman for the cloud. Its business is rooted in acting as kind of an App Store for the enterprise software buyer.
39. Apttus
Valuation: $1 billion
Founded: 2006
What it does: Apttus makes the entire sales process faster and easier. Once a salesperson gets in touch with a potential customer, Apttus helps put together the right product offering and financial terms of the contract, while also allowing legal paperwork to be taken care of within its software.
Founded: 2006
What it does: Apttus makes the entire sales process faster and easier. Once a salesperson gets in touch with a potential customer, Apttus helps put together the right product offering and financial terms of the contract, while also allowing legal paperwork to be taken care of within its software.
38. Carbon3D
Founded: 2013
What it does: 3D printing company Carbon3D wants to help make 3D printing mainstream, moving it into manufacturing in industries like aerospace, consumer electronics, and medical and dental.
37. Vox Media
Founded: 2003
What it does: Vox Media is the parent company of Curbed, Re/code, Vox.com, The Verge, Eater, SB Nation, Polygon, and Racked.
36. Zscaler
Founded: 2008
What it does: Internet security company Zscaler uses cloud computing to provide services like firewalls and IoT security.
35. Zeta Interactive
Founded: 2007
What it does: Big data and marketing company Zeta Interactive works with brands to track analytics.
34. Fanduel
Nigel Eccles, CEO & Co-founder of FanDuel, speaks during an interview in New York, September 10, 2015.
Founded: 2007
What it does: Fanduel — like its competitor DraftKings — is a daily fantasy sports website that lets users play a variety of fantasy sports and win money.
33. Coupa Software
Founded: 2006
What it does: Coupa is a software-as-a-service for purchasing -- meaning whatever a company buys, they can do it through Coupa. It keeps track of prices, contracts, approvals and eliminates the need for employees to buy their own stuff and submit expense reports.
32. MarkLogic
Founded: 2003
What it does: Software-as-a-service company MarkLogic is an operational database management system.
31. SimpliVity
Valuation: $1 billion
Founded: 2009
What it does: SimpliVity makes an all-in-one hardware box that combines server, storage and networking into one device.
Founded: 2009
What it does: SimpliVity makes an all-in-one hardware box that combines server, storage and networking into one device.
30. 23andMe
Founded: 2006
What it does: 23andMe is a human genome research startup that provides more than 60 reports based on the samples of saliva you submit, which are then sifted and scanned for single genetic variations that are linked to specific traits, like hair and eye color and propensity for certain diseases.
29. Docker
Docker Founder and CTO Solomon Hykes
Founded: 2010
What it does: Docker's "container" technology is hard to explain, but it's highly popular among software engineers, and its effects are profound. Essentially, it creates a way for developers to take their software and pack it up into what we call a container, a figurative box that lets the software run almost anywhere — in a company's data center or in a cloud service run by somebody else — without any additional tools.
28. Nextdoor
Valuation: $1.1 billion
Founded: 2010
What it does: Nextdoor is a neighborhood-based social network. Here's a gist of how it works: Once you've verified your name and address, you can only communicate with people in close proximity. And, like a local message board, you can also post news, offer up items for sale, or get a group of neighbors together for a block party.
Founded: 2010
What it does: Nextdoor is a neighborhood-based social network. Here's a gist of how it works: Once you've verified your name and address, you can only communicate with people in close proximity. And, like a local message board, you can also post news, offer up items for sale, or get a group of neighbors together for a block party.
27. Udacity
Valuation: $1.1 billion
Founded: 2011
What it does: Udacity wants to democratize education. Instead of only providing a bunch of singular, lecture-style classes, Udacity works with major tech companies like Google, Cloudera, Facebook, and Salesforce to build classes that fit into a handful of credentialed, project-focused programs.
Founded: 2011
What it does: Udacity wants to democratize education. Instead of only providing a bunch of singular, lecture-style classes, Udacity works with major tech companies like Google, Cloudera, Facebook, and Salesforce to build classes that fit into a handful of credentialed, project-focused programs.
26. Uptake
Founded: 2014
What it does: Uptake is a billion-dollar Internet of Things startup. The company provides analytics for major industries, with the eventual goal of helping fields like gas and construction cut costs.
25. Twilio
Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson
Founded: 2008
What it does: Twilio offers something called an API (application programming interface), which is a way to connect two applications. Twilio lets web apps communicate in other ways, too, like fire up a voice call (perhaps to a customer service rep) or send photo texts.
24. Sprinklr
Founded: 2009
What it does: Sprinklr is an enterprise social media management company that competes with companies like Hootsuite.
23. Okta
Okta CEO Todd McKinnon
Founded: 2009
What it does: Cloud security company Okta manages passwords and security for 4,000 cloud applications amounting to millions of logins daily by employees.
22. Warby Parker
Founded: 2010
What it does: Ecommerce company Warby Parker sells vintage-inspired glasses and sunglasses.
21. Medallia
Founded: 2001
What it does: Sephora, Honeywell, Verizon, and Sony all rely on Medallia for its global cloud business communications technology.
20. Thumbtack
Founded: 2008
What it does: Thumbtack is a company that connects users with professionals — like plumbers and painters — in their area.
19. DraftKings
Founded: 2011
What it does: DraftKings lets users play against each other in daily fantasy sports matches to win cash prizes.
18. Jet.com
Marc Lore, CEO and founder of Jet.com
Founded: 2013
What it does: Jet is an Amazon ecommerce startup that competes with Amazon. Its dynamic-pricing model offers shoppers discounts when they combined multiple orders into a single shipment, waived the ability to return something, or used debit cards instead of credit cards.
17. Buzzfeed
Founded: 2006
What it does: Media company BuzzFeed provides everything from gifs of cute cats to breaking hard news stories and investigations. It's expanded into video and Snapchat content too.
16. MuleSoft
MuleSoft founder Ross Mason
Founded: 2006
What it does: MuleSoft helps different application programming interfaces work together, connecting apps, data, and devices.
15. The Honest Company
Founded: 2011
What it does: The Honest Co. is an ecommerce company cofounded by Jessica Alba that sells eco-friendly baby products and cleaning products
14. Oscar Health Insurance
Founded: 2013
What it does: Oscar is a company that plans to shake up healthcare. It lets users talk to doctors on the phone for free, and it was the first insurance company to give fitness trackers to its customers to let them get rewards for walking a certain number of steps in a day.
13. Zocdoc
Valuation: $1.8 billion
Founded: 2007
What it does: ZocDoc lets you find doctors in your area and book doctors appointments from your phone.
Founded: 2007
What it does: ZocDoc lets you find doctors in your area and book doctors appointments from your phone.
12. Prosper Marketplace
Founded: 2006
What it does: Online lending company Prosper Marketplace connects people who want to borrow money with people who want to invest and lend their money.
11. Blue Apron
Founded: 2012
What it does: Blue Apron delivers millions of recipes and fresh ingredients to subscribers every month. You receive a box full of portioned out food in each Blue Apron delivery.
10. Domo Technologies
Founded: 2010
What it does: Utah-based data management startup Domo connects with data sources (one startup), cleans up and prepares the data for analysis (two more), visualizes the data, and runs analysis on it.
9. Github
GitHub CEO Chris Wanstrath on stage at GitHub Universe 2015
8. NantHealth
Valuation: $2 billion
Founded: 2007
What it does: NantHealth is an IT healthcare company that tracks patients' health inputs, and determines the most effective treatment methods using big data.
Founded: 2007
What it does: NantHealth is an IT healthcare company that tracks patients' health inputs, and determines the most effective treatment methods using big data.
7. Avant
6. Lyft
Valuation: $2.5 billion
Founded: 2012
What it does: Lyft is a laid-back, fist-bumping alternative to Uber. Lyft launched three years ago in San Francisco and has expanded to more than 60 cities across the US.
Founded: 2012
What it does: Lyft is a laid-back, fist-bumping alternative to Uber. Lyft launched three years ago in San Francisco and has expanded to more than 60 cities across the US.
5. Wish
4. Stemcentrx
Peter Thiel, Founders Fund in conversation with Caroline Daniel from the Financial Times on the Web Summit Centre Stage at the 2014 Web Summit on November 6, 2014 in Dublin, Ireland.
Founded: 2008
What it does: Stemcentrx wants to cure cancer by killing cancer stem cells — the cells that spread cancer through the human body and resist cancer treatments. Peter Thiel invested in the company.
3. Tanium
2. Social Finance
Mike Cagney of SoFi.
Founded: 2011
What it does: Lending platform Social Finance (SoFi) is up against other online lenders and brick-and-mortar banks alike. So far this year, the startup has lined up more than $4 billion in loans.
1. Zenefits
Zenefits cofounder CEO Parker Conrad
Founded: 2013
What it does: Zenefits, a startup aimed at making administrative tasks such as payroll and benefits easier, is shaping up to be one of the fastest-growing cloud companies ever — in revenue and number of users.
