23 Billion-Dollar Start-Ups You’ve Never Heard Of (but Should Totally Know)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Uber, Snapchat, Pinterest, Airbnb are all start-up companies that investors and the media love to talk about given their multi-billion dollar valuations. But what about the smaller startups quietly making a name for themselves?

There is a bevy of smaller -- relatively speaking -- billion-dollar companies doing exciting things.

We've culled The Wall Street Journal's billion-dollar startup club, a list that tracks venture-backed private companies valued at $1 billion or more. Of the 78 companies spanning a variety of sectors and industries on the list -- as of March 2015 -- 23 start-ups were valued at exactly $1 billion. 

And they're worth knowing more about. Here's the list.

1. Home24
Equity funding: $20 million (3 rounds)
Founded: 2009 (renamed Home24 in 2012)
Competitors: IKEA, AmbienteDirect.com, Avandeo, Made.com
Investors: Investment AB Kinnevik, JPMorgan Chase, REWE, Rocket Internet, Zimmermann Investment

Home24.com is a Berlin, Germany-based furnishing and design Web site.

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2.Yello Mobile 
Equity funding: $112 million (3 rounds)
Founded: 2012
Competitors: Daum Kakao and Naver
Investors: DS Asset Management, DSC Investment, Formation8 Partners, LB Investment, SL investment, Stonebridge Capital

Yello Mobile is a mobile business platform comprised of 54 companies and 33 services, based in Seoul, South Korea. Yello Mobile's strategy is to "invest in the fast growing sectors of mobile and digital," according to its Web site. The company aims to be the No. 1 mobile media group - the umbrella to a shopping portal, mobile new media, advertising and digital marketing, online travel and business.

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3. CloudFlare 
Equity funding: $72 million (3 rounds)
Founded: 2009 (launched 2010)
Competitors: N/A
Investors: Greenspring Associates, New Enterprise Associates, Pelion Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures, Venrock

Looking to "build a better Internet," CloudFlare is a web performance and security company. The San Francisco-based firm began as a cybersecurity company, but morphed into a content delivery network as well as domain name server provider that can improve the performance and protect any online site.

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4.Evernote 
Equity funding: $302 million (5 rounds) 
Founded: 2007 
Competitors: Microsoft, Google
Investors: Allen & Co., China Broadband Capital Partners, DoCoMo Capital, Harbor Pacific Capital, m8 Capital, Meritech Capital Partners, m8 Capital, Morgenthaler Ventures, Sequoia Capital, T. Rowe Price, Valiant Capital Partners

Evernote is a note-taking app that can live across technology platforms, including smartphone, tablet and computer. The company has more than 400 employees and is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif.

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5. Good Technology
Equity funding: $388 million (13 rounds)
Founded: 1996
Competitors: Symantec, MobileIron, Blackberry
Investors: @Ventures, Allegis Capital, Altitude Capital Partners, Angel Investors, Attractor Investment Management, Bessemer Venture Partners, Blueprint Ventures, Comdisco Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, ePlanet Capital, Fremont Ventures, GE Capital, Equity, GKM Venture Partners, Industry Ventures, Labrador Ventures, Leland Stanford Junior University, McAfee, Meritech Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Novus Ventures, Oak Investment Partners, Trinity Ventures, VantagePoint Capital Partners, Vector Capital, Walden Venture Capital, Wheatley Partners

Good Technology is a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company that provides a secure mobility platform for enterprises and governments worldwide. The company filed for an IPO in May 2014. As of Dec. 31, it said it had 6,200 active customers in 189 countries, of which half operate in regulated industries with "stringent security requirements" such as financial services, health care and government. It cites the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Air Force as customers, according to its registration filing with the SEC.

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6. Eventbrite
Equity funding: $200 million (6 rounds)
Founded: 2006
Competitors: Ticketmaster, Sosh
Investors: DAG Ventures, Sequoia Capital, T. Rowe Price, Tenaya Capital, Tiger Global Management

Eventbrite is an online global ticketing and event marketplace that enables event planners to plan, promote, and sell tickets to events -- from photography and yoga classes, to concerts and festivals. Since 2006, the platform has processed over 200 million tickets and registrations worldwide, totaling $3.75 billion in gross ticket sales, the San Francisco says.

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7. Tango 
Equity funding: $367 million (5 rounds) 
Founded: 2009 
Competitors: Facebook, Kik, Snapchat, Microsoft's Skype, WhatsApp
Investors: Access Industries, Alibaba Group, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Qualcomm Ventures, TransLink Capital

Tango is a free mobile messaging app. The company is based in Mountain View, Calif.

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8. InsideSales.com 
Equity funding: $139 million (4 rounds)
Founded: 2004
Competitors: Lattice Engines, Fliptop
Investors: Acadia Woods Partners, Epic Ventures, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Polaris Partners, Salesforce.com, USVP, Zetta Venture Partners

InsideSales.com crunches data for to reveal sales trends to fuel sales growth through predictive sales communication, gamification and hiring. The big data company is headquartered in Provo, Utah.

  

9. Mogujie 
Equity funding: $200 million (4 rounds)
Founded: 2011
Competitors: Meilishuo, Koudai, Taobao (Alibaba)
Investors: Banyan Capital, Bertelsmann Asia Investment, Hopu Investments Management, IDG Capital Partners, Qiming Venture Partners, Trust Bridge Partners

Mogujie.com is a Chinese Pinterest-like social network that focuses on women's fashion.

  

10. Kabam
Equity funding: $245 million (6 rounds)
Founded: 2006 
Competitors: Supercell, King Digital Entertainment, Zynga
Investors: Alibaba Group Holding, Betfair Group, Canaan Partners, Google Ventures, Intel Capital, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Performance Equity Management, Pinnacle Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, SK Telecom Ventures, Warner Bros. Entertainment

Kabam is a mobile gaming company with free to play games such as Kingdoms of Camelot and Dragons of Atlantis. The company has partnered with Hollywood studios for mobile and Web games based on The Hobbit, Fast and Furious 6 and The Godfather. The company is based in San Francisco.

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11. Lookout
Equity funding: $284 million (7 rounds)
Founded: 2006
Competitors: Symantec, Trend Micro
Investors: Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Bezos Expeditions, Deutsche Telekom, Goldman Sachs, Greylock Partners, Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Mithril Capital, Morgan Stanley, Qualcomm Ventures, T. Rowe Price Associates, Trilogy Partnership, Wellington Management

Mobile security company, Lookout predicts and stops mobile attacks from harming smartphones. The San Francisco-based company's app is used both for personal and enterprise purposes. In January, Lookout announced a platform to address the government marketplace. Used by more than 60 million people, the software is pre-installed in AT&T (T) Android phones as well as Samsung devices. However, while Lookout offers an iPhone app, "Apple's operating system prevents it from accessing as much data about other apps," according to the Journal.

  

12. JustFab
Equity funding: $250 million (4 rounds)
Founded: 2010
Competitors: Beachmint, Stitch Fix, Gilt Groupe
Investors: Intelligent Beauty, Matrix Partners, Passport Special Opportunities Fund, Rho Ventures, Shining Capital Management, Technology Crossover Ventures

JustFab is a lifestyle fashion company that offers an online shopping experience curated for the user with styling advice and recommendations from experts and fashion consultants. The El Segundo, Calif.-based company has a few sites including: JustFab, FabKids, ShoeDazzle and Fabletics, which some celebrity heavy hitters behind them. Just Fab's creative director is Kimora Lee Simmons. ShoeDazzle was co-founded by Kim Kardashian. Fabletics was co-founded by actress Kate Hudson.

  

13. Honest Co. 
Equity funding: $122 million (4 rounds)
Founded: 2011
Competitors: Procter & Gamble, Seventh Generation, Earth's Best, Kimberly-Clark
Investors: Dragoneer Investment Group, General Catalyst Partners, Iconiq Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Wellington Management

Honest Co. was co-founded in 2011 by actress Jessica Alba. The company sells eco-friendly (and baby sensitive) diapers, wipes and other baby products, bath essentials, cleaning products and vitamins, among other things, online and through major retailers like Target(TGT).

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14.Credit Karma
Equity funding: $194 million (3 rounds)
Founded: 2007
Competitors: Intuit, Lendingtree, Quizzle, Credit Sesame
Investors: 500 Startups, Felicis Ventures, Founders Fund, Google Capital, QED Investors, Ribbit Capital, Susquehanna Growth Equity, SV Angel, Tiger Global Management

Credit Karma is a free web-based credit and financial management tool for consumers.

  

15.Qualtrics
Equity funding: $220 million (2 rounds)
Founded: 2002
Competitors: Looker, SurveyMonkey
Investors: Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital

Qualtrics is a software company that provides market research and customer analytics for companies and universities. The company says more than 50% of Fortune 100 companies are among its 6,000 customers. It also says that major universities, including 99 of the top business schools, use its platform.

  

16. Razer
Equity funding: $50 million (2 rounds)
Founded: 2005
Competitors: Dell, Logitech, Fitbone, Jawbone
Investors: IDG-Accel, Intel Capital, Heliconia Capital Management (Temasek)

Razer, based in Carlsbad, Calif., designs and sells optimized connected devices and software for gamers.

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17. Shopify
Equity funding: $122 million (2 rounds)
Founded: 2006
Competitors: Amazon.com, eBay, Square
Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Felicis Ventures, FirstMark Capital Georgian Partners, Insight Venture Partners, OMERS Ventures

Shopify helps small and mid-size businesses as well as larger companies create and maintain their Web sites by offering a professional online storefront, payment point-of-sale systems the web and via a smartphone. The Ottawa, Canada-based company credits well-known customers including Tesla (TSLA), PepsiCo's (PEP) Gatorade, Wikipedia, the Los Angeles Lakers and fitness franchise CrossFit as customers.

  

18. Olacabs
Equity funding: $277 million (5 rounds)
Founded: 2010
Competitors: Uber, TaxiSure, Meru Cabs
Investors: Matrix Management, Sequoia Capital, Softbank, Steadview Capital, Tiger Global Management

Olacabs is a smartphone app-based service that allows customers to hire taxis, auto rickshaws or rent a car in India.

  

19. Shazam
Equity funding: $277 million (5 rounds)
Founded: 2002
Competitors: Spotify, Pandora, Amazon.com
Investors: Access Industries, America Movil, DN Capital Limited, Institutional Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Lynx New Media Ventures, Soft Park IDG Ventures China, Sony Music Communication, Universal Music Group

Shazam is a mobile app that identifies music and TV available to help users "name that tune" for both Apple and Android phones. In fact, Shazam was one of the first apps for the Apple App Store in 2008. According to the Journal, today it takes "an average of four seconds for Shazam to 'listen' to recorded music and match it against its database of 35 million songs."

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20. Beibei
Equity funding: $124 million (2 rounds)
Founded: 2011
Competitors: Lamahui.com, Red Baby, Babytree.com
Investors: Husor (parent company), Banyan Capital, Capital Today, IDG Capital Partners, New Horizon Capital

Beibei is a Chinese children's and baby goods e-commerce site, started by a former Alibaba (BABA) employee. The Web site is aimed at the country's young middle-class parents catering to those "on high alert over the safety and quality of products for their children," theJournal said.

  

21. Grabtaxi
Equity funding: $340 million (4 rounds)
Founded: 2011
Competitors: Uber, EasyTaxi
Investors: GGV Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Qunar Cayman Islands, Softbank, Tiger Global Management, Vertex Venture Holdings

Grabtaxi is also a taxi booking service that operates in Southeast Asia. Unlike Uber, which has been aggressively expanding in Southeast Asia, but facing standoffs with international regulators over complying with local laws, Grabtaxi has been working closely with government officials, the Journal said.

  

22. SimpliVity
Equity funding: $276 million (5 rounds)
Founded: 2009
Competitors: EMC, NetApp, Nutanix 
Investors: Accel Partners, Charles River Ventures, DFJ Growth, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Meritech Capital Partners, Swisscom Ventures, Waypoint Capital

SimpliVity is a data storage company based in Wesborough, Mass. The company offers "hyperconverged infrastructure and data architecture that simplifies IT, operations and data," it said.

  

23. Farfetch
Equity funding: $195 million (5 rounds)
Founded: 2008
Competitors: Moda Operandi, Neiman Marcus, Net-A-Porter
Investors: Conde Nast International, Virtruvian Partners, DST Global, Advent Venture Partners, Index Ventures, Novel TMT and e.ventures

Targeting fashion-forward consumers, Farfetch is an e-commerce site for domestic and international boutiques that sell high-end luxury goods that typically can't be found elsewhere on the Web.

By Laurie Kulikowski

Source : http://www.thestreet.com/story/13083656/1/23-billion-dollar-start-ups-youve-never-heard-of-but-should-totally-know.html?kval=dontmiss