You may have been surprised a few years ago when Google acquired traffic app Waze or Facebook paid more than $21 billion for messaging service Whatsapp. We weren't. This year marks the fourth year of the CNBC Disruptor 50, and in that short history a lot has changed for these companies. Ten past Disruptors are now public companies; 12 have been acquired; three of the previous Disruptors went the way of many start-ups, shutting down, including one courtesy of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision. Eight companies have made the Disruptor list all four years. Below is the complete history of the CNBC Disruptor 50, with details on every start-up to make the list between 2013 and 2016.
Company | 2016 rank | 2015 rank | 2014 rank | 2013 made the list* | Material changes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
23andMe | 5 | - | - | Yes | - |
3D Robotics | - | - | - | Yes | - |
Aereo | - | - | 7 | Yes | Bankrupt November 21, 2014. It was later purchased by DVR company TiVo for $1 million in March 2015. |
Airbnb | 2 | 5 | 41 | Yes | - |
AngelList | - | - | 26 | - | - |
Appito | - | - | 30 | - | IPO September 23, 2016. |
Atlassian | - | - | - | Yes | IPO December 10, 2015. |
Audax Health | - | - | - | Yes | Acquired by United Health Care February 19, 2014. |
Betterment | - | 36 | 45 | - | - |
Bill.com | - | - | 37 | - | - |
Birchbox | - | 43 | 50 | - | - |
Blippar | 9 | 19 | - | - | - |
Bloom Energy | 6 | 3 | - | - | - |
Boku | - | - | - | Yes | - |
Box | - | - | - | Yes | IPO January 23, 2015. |
BrightRoll | - | - | 27 | - | Acquired by Yahoo November 11, 2014. |
Bromium | - | - | - | Yes | - |
BuzzFeed | - | - | - | Yes | - |
Castlight Health | - | - | - | Yes | IPO March 17, 2014. |
ChargePoint | - | - | 12 | - | - |
CircleUp | - | - | - | Yes | - |
Cloudera | 14 | - | - | - | IPO April 28, 2017. |
CloudFlare | 24 | - | - | - | - |
Coinbase | - | 31 | 35 | - | - |
Cool Planet Energy Systems | - | - | 25 | - | - |
Coursera | 10 | - | - | - | - |
Cylance | 40 | - | - | - | - |
DAQRI | 15 | - | - | - | - |
Dataminr | 43 | - | 13 | - | - |
Deezer | 36 | - | - | - | - |
Diamond Foundry | 33 | - | - | - | - |
DocuSign | - | 13 | 29 | - | - |
Dollar Shave Club | - | 37 | - | - | Acquired by Unilever July 19, 2016 |
DraftKings | - | 45 | - | - | - |
Dropbox | 42 | 6 | 24 | Yes | - |
EcoMotors | - | - | 22 | - | - |
Etsy | - | - | 3 | Yes | IPO April 1, 2015. |
Ezetap | 3 | - | - | - | - |
Fon | - | - | 40 | - | - |
Foursquare | - | - | - | Yes | - |
Fullscreen | - | - | 21 | - | Acquired by Otter Media/ Chernin Group/ AT&T September 22, 2014. |
GENBAND | - | 22 | - | - | - |
Getaround | - | - | - | Yes | - |
Ginger.io | - | - | - | Yes | - |
Ginkgo Bioworks | 7 | - | - | - | - |
GitHub | 48 | 20 | 6 | - | - |
HackerRank | - | 30 | - | - | - |
Hampton Creek Foods | - | 24 | 36 | - | - |
Hearsay Social | - | 39 | - | - | - |
HotelTonight | - | - | - | Yes | - |
Houzz | 11 | 11 | - | - | - |
Humacyte | 37 | - | - | - | - |
Impossible Foods | - | 42 | - | - | - |
INRIX | - | - | - | Yes | - |
InsideSales.com | 31 | - | - | - | - |
Instacart | 50 | - | - | - | - |
Intarcia Therapeutics | - | 29 | - | - | - |
Jaunt | 47 | - | - | - | - |
Kabam | - | - | - | Yes | - |
Kabbage | 35 | - | - | - | - |
Kickstarter | - | - | 49 | Yes | - |
Klarna | 8 | 33 | - | - | - |
Kumu Networks | - | - | 44 | - | - |
Kymeta | - | - | 46 | Yes | - |
LanzaTech | 13 | - | - | - | - |
Lending Club | - | - | 33 | Yes | IPO December 11, 2014. |
LightSail Energy | - | - | - | Yes | - |
LISNR | 45 | 12 | - | - | - |
LiveU | - | - | - | Yes | - |
Lyft | 27 | - | - | - | - |
MakerBot | - | - | - | Yes | Acquired by Stratasys June 19, 2013. |
Medium | 26 | - | - | - | - |
MicroSeismic | - | - | - | Yes | - |
Moderna Therapeutics | 41 | 1 | 8 | - | - |
MongoDB | 19 | 27 | 42 | - | - |
Motif Investing | 44 | 23 | 4 | - | - |
Narrative Science | - | 46 | - | - | - |
Nebula | - | - | 31 | - | Bankrupt April 1, 2015. |
Nest Labs | - | - | - | Yes | Acquired by Google January 13, 2014. |
Nexmo | - | - | 39 | - | Acquired by Vonage May 5, 2016. |
Nextdoor | - | 49 | - | - | - |
Nutanix | - | 44 | - | - | IPO September 30, 2016. |
Okta | 38 | - | - | - | IPO April 7, 2017. |
Opower | - | - | - | Yes | IPO April 4, 2014. Acquired by Oracle May 1, 2016. |
Optoro | - | 38 | - | - | - |
Oscar | 17 | 17 | 43 | - | - |
OUYA | - | - | - | Yes | Acquired by Razer July 28, 2015. |
Palantir Technologies | 4 | 7 | 5 | Yes | - |
Personal Capital | - | 18 | 17 | - | - |
Phononic | 18 | - | - | - | - |
Picarro | - | - | - | Yes | - |
46 | 35 | 32 | Yes | - | |
Pure Storage | - | 16 | 19 | - | IPO October 6, 2015 |
Qubole | - | 48 | - | - | - |
Quirky | - | 15 | 18 | Yes | Bankrupt September 22, 2015 |
Redfin | - | - | 34 | - | - |
Rent the Runway | - | 28 | 38 | Yes | - |
Rethink Robotics | - | - | - | Yes | - |
Shape Security | - | - | 23 | - | - |
Shapeways | - | - | - | Yes | - |
Shopify | - | - | - | Yes | IPO May 21, 2015. |
SimpliVity | 22 | - | - | - | Acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise January 17, 2017 |
Skybox Imaging | - | - | 14 | - | Acquired by Google June 10, 2014. |
Slack | 23 | 9 | - | - | - |
Snapchat | 16 | 50 | 48 | - | IPO March 2, 2017. Now known as Snap. |
SoFi | 49 | 25 | - | - | - |
SpaceX | 30 | 2 | 1 | Yes | - |
Spotify | 25 | 47 | 9 | Yes | - |
Square | - | 40 | - | Yes | IPO November 19, 2015. |
Stripe | 29 | - | 15 | - | - |
SugarCRM | - | 32 | - | - | - |
SurveyMonkey | 32 | 14 | - | - | - |
Synack | 20 | 21 | - | - | - |
Teespring | 21 | - | - | - | - |
TransferWise | - | 8 | 16 | - | - |
Tumblr | - | - | - | Yes | Acquired by Yahoo May 20, 2013. |
Twilio | 39 | 41 | 47 | Yes | IPO June 23, 2016 |
- | - | - | Yes | IPO November 7, 2013 | |
Uber | 1 | 4 | 10 | Yes | - |
Udacity | 12 | - | - | - | - |
Veniam | 28 | - | - | - | - |
Warby Parker | - | 10 | 2 | Yes | - |
Waze | - | - | - | Yes | Acquired by Google June 11, 2013. |
Wealthfront | - | 34 | 20 | Yes | - |
WeWork | 34 | - | - | - | - |
- | - | - | Yes | Acquired by Facebook February 19, 2014. | |
Yext | - | - | 28 | - | IPO April 13, 2017. |
ZenPayroll | - | 26 | - | - | Now known as Gusto. |
ZocDoc | - | - | - | Yes | - |
Zuora | - | - | 11 | - | - |