As the number of venture-backed companies hitting $1 billion or more in valuation continues to swell, Forbes this week took a shot at predicting who the next unicorns will be.
The 25 companies Forbes named came from a field of about 100 it got when it asked 200 venture firms who they thought should be on the list. Twenty-four of them are either headquartered in the Bay Area or have lead investors from the region.
Forbes has teamed up with TrueBridge Capital Partners to search the country for the 25 fastest-growing venture-backed startups most likely to reach a $1 billion valuation. TrueBridge asked 200 venture capital firms to nominate the companies they thought were most likely to become unicorns, while Forbes reached out directly to more than 100 startups. Then came the deeper look, as we analyzed finances for roughly 140 of them and interviewed founders. This list represents the 25, in alphabetical order, that we think have the best shot of reaching the billion-dollar mark. SEE THE LIST
TripleLift
Founders: Eric Berry, Eric Berry, Shaun Zacharia, Ari Lewine
Equity Raised: $17 million
Estimated 2018 Revenue: $150 million
Lead Investors: True Ventures, Edison Partners and Entrepreneurs Roundtable Acceler
Internet ads aren’t works of art. TripleLift is trying to improve that a bit. Its online ad-exchange takes advertisements from say, Ford and puts on them across a number of sites from publishers such as News Corp. and Hearst—taking care to find less obtrusive and more natural places for the ads than traditional banner ads.
