Uber has had a turbulent year, but that hasn't slowed the company's ability to attract the best talent.
The ride-sharing company lands atop LinkedIn's inaugural Top Companies | Startups list. Despite challenges ranging from sexual harassment claims to the hunt for a new CEO, of every start-up on this list, Uber has had the most employees leave LinkedIn Top Companies like JPMorgan and Facebook to join its team.
To determine this list, LinkedIn's data team analyzed billions of searches by the site's more than 500 million members, considering employee growth, job seeker interest and engagement with the company on the platform, as well as how well these upstarts were able to attract talent away from the established players on LinkedIn's Top Companies list.
The list includes familiar consumer favorites like Airbnb, Lyft and Glossier as well as companies that want to change how you search for, finance and decorate a home and a number of cybersecurity companies.
Read on for the 25 most attractive start-up employers in the U.S.:
25. CrowdStrike
Global headcount: 760
Valuation: $1.01 billion
According to LinkedIn, CrowdStrike was the first cybersecurity company to make accusations against Russia related to the Democratic National Committee email hack leading up to the 2016 election.
24. Cylance
Global headcount: 805
Valuation: $984 million
Cylance helps protect companies from malware attacks. After founder and CEO Stuart McClure had a near-death experience on a flight to Australia in 1989, he made it his life's word to "find and fix the problems introduced by technology to prevent bad stuff from happening to innocent people," he tells LinkedIn.
23. Cybereason
Global headcount: 325
Valuation: $999 million
There is such a thing as a free lunch — at least at Cybereason. In addition to that midday perk the cybersecurity company offers unlimited vacation, commuter reimbursement and employee referral bonuses up to $5,000.
22. Opendoor
Global headcount: 415
Valuation: $1 billion
Opendoor buys homes directly and resells it, powered by its own mortgage business. New hires function as secret shoppers as a way to learn about the company's app by posing as potential buyers.
21. Blend
Global headcount: 200
Valuation: $500 million
Blend makes digital tools for mortgage lenders and tells LinkedIn that its clients control about a quarter of the $10 trillion mortgage lending industry.
20. G2 Crowd
Global headcount: 120
Valuation: $300 million
G2 Crowd provides a quarter of a million verified user reviews of enterprise software, and doesn't sell ads. The company anticipates having 130 job openings in the coming year.
19. Udacity
Global headcount: 500
Valuation: $877 million
The skills-focused platform recently launched a scholarship in partnership with Lyft for an "Intro to Self-Driving Cars" program, in an attempt to make it easier for workers to enter the field.
18. Duo Security
Global headcount: 500
Valuation: $1.17 billion
The Michigan-based cybersecurity company has a strict "no jerks" policy.
17. GRAIL
Global headcount: 250
Valuation: $1 billion
GRAIL wants to detect cancer as early as possible, when it can still be cured. It's picked up $1 billion in funding from the likes of future-focused billionaires Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
16. Pinterest
Global headcount: 1,690
Valuation: $10.45 billion
To ensure that the social network keeps innovating, the company launched Pinterest Labs earlier this year, bringing together researchers, scientists, engineers and universities to tackle challenges in machine learning and A.I.
15. Aryaka Networks
Global headcount: more than 300
Total funding: $120 million
The hardware-free telecom company has the longest average employee tenure of any company on the list, according to LinkedIn — 2.7 years.
14. Flexport
Global headcount: 500
Valuation: $910 million
To help ensure that staffers from different parts of the company get to know each other the company holds a regular "lunch roulette," matching employees who don't see each other on a daily basis.
13. Glossier
Global headcount: 130
Valuation: $34.4 million
According to LinkedIn, Glossier was the fastest growing company, staff-wise, to make this list, with an annual employee growth rate of 257 percent.
12. Stripe
Global headcount: 810
Valuation: $9.2 billion
Stripe's technology makes it possible for businesses to instantly accept online payments.
11. General Assembly
Global headcount: 580
Valuation: $452 million
Want to get ahead? Apply to work at General Assembly. The company told LinkedIn it promoted 136 employees in the first half of 2017 — 25 percent of its staff.
10. Convoy
Global headcount: 170
Valuation: $80 million
Founded in 2015, Convoy matches trucks with shipments to make the freight-moving process more efficient. The company has grown its staff 37 percent in the past six months, and has 28 jobs posted right now.
9. Houzz
Global headcount: 1,600
Valuation: $3.84 billion
Houzz employees receive a pair of company slippers on their first day at the online remodeling and decorating platform so they can feel right at home at the office.
8. Dropbox
Global headcount: 1,900
Valuation: $9.38 billion
Dropbox employees are each given 32 hours off per year to volunteer for a cause they're committed to, and the company will match as much as $1,000 in charitable donations made by staff.
7. Rubrik
Global headcount: 600
Valuation: $1.3 billion
NBA MVP Kevin Durant is one of Rubrik's investors and board advisors. The company is so committed to transparency that all 600 employees attend board meetings and view financial statements.
6. NIO
Global headcount: 440
Valuation: $2.89 billion
The electric and autonomous vehicle maker has "more than quadrupled its staff since June 2016," according to LinkedIn. Twice a month employees participate in activities like trivia and scavenger hunts to welcome and get to know new hires.
5. Slack
Global headcount: 890
Valuation: $5.1 billion
Slack says that it's the "fastest-growing business application in history," with nine million active weekly users and 43 Fortune 100 companies as clients. According to LinkedIn the company has grown 32 percent over the last year.
4. Lyft
Global headcount: 2,000
Valuation: $11 billion
Lyft has been working hard to make its technology more accessible to deaf or hearing-impaired drivers, introducing visual notifications, a message instructing passengers to contact the driver by text and quick tutorials for riders on how to say "hello" and "thank you" in American Sign Language.
3. WeWork
Global headcount: 3,000
Valuation: $20 billion
New hires of the co-working space provider join each Monday and participate in a city-wide scavenger hunt across the company's 40 New York City buildings.
2. Airbnb
Global headcount: 3,000
Valuation: $29.25 billion
According to LinkedIn, Airbnb will top 100 million guest arrivals this year, a 25 percent increase since last year.
1. Uber
Global headcount: 16,000
Valuation: $68 billion
The global ride-sharing company claims the most employees who've left LinkedIn Top Companies like Google and JPMorgan to join the team.
To be considered for this list, companies had to be at most 10 years old with a minimum of 100 employees, independent and privately held. They must have completed at least one round of venture-backed funding. Almost 25,000 eligible companies were selected by LinkedIn and CB Insights for consideration.
Don't miss: These are the 25 most attractive employers on earth, according to LinkedIn
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