2014 CNBC's Disruptor 50
In the second annual Disruptor 50 list, CNBC features private companies in 27 industries—from aerospace to enterprise software to retail—whose innovations are revolutionizing the business landscape. These forward-thinking upstarts have identified unexploited niches in the marketplace that have the potential to become billion-dollar businesses, and they rushed to fill them. In the process, they are creating new ecosystems for their products and services. Unseating corporate giants is no easy feat. But we ranked those venture capital–backed companies doing the best job. Already it's hard to think of the world without them. Read more about the list ranking and the methodology.
The List
1. SpaceX - The company that wants to send you to space and colonize Mars.
2. Warby Parker - Taking on the Luxottica eyewear machine.
3. Etsy - A big voice for small artisans.
4. Motif Investing - Building theme-based portfolios online.
5. Palantir Technologies - Silicon Valley's CIA operative.
6. GitHub - Cracking the code on collaboration.
7. Aereo - The company TV hopes will die.
8. Moderna - Therapeutics Reprogramming cells to fight disease.
9. Spotify - The most controversial act in music.
10. Uber - The 21st-century taxi service.
11. Zuora - A renewal in the subscription business model.
12. ChargePoint - Putting the gas station out of business.
13. Dataminr - The search for intelligence on Twitter.
14. Skybox Imaging - The spy who came into the Google fold.
15. Stripe - The start-up challenging PayPal.
16. TransferWise - Getting bankers out of the forex biz.
17. Personal Capital - A 360-degree view of your finances.
18. Quirky - Crowdsourcing an idea for basement tinkerers.
19. Pure Storage - Predicting a flash flood of data.
20. Wealthfront - Silicon Valley's plan to oust wealth managers.
21. Fullscreen - YouTube's hot multichannel talent network.
22. EcoMotors - Turning the engine inside out, in Detroit's backyard.
23. Shape Security - Putting organized cybercrime out of biz.
24. Dropbox - The 800-pound gorilla in the cloud IPO room.
25. Cool Planet Energy Systems - From farm to fuel, and back to farm.
26. AngelList - Getting disruptors the money they need to disrupt.
27. BrightRoll - Betting detergent ads on TV won't wash.
28. Yext - Resurrecting the Yellow Pages.
29. DocuSign - Sign on the dotted e-line.
30. Apptio - A cloud-based Peter Drucker.
31. Nebula - A private cloud the size of a pizza box.
32. Pinterest - The world's bulletin board.
33. Lending Club - Borrowing without banks.
34. Redfin - The only real estate broker who hates commissions.
35. Coinbase - The closest thing bitcoin has to a central bank.
36. Hampton Creek Foods - The egg comes first; no chicken necessary.
37. Bill.com - Making sure the check's never in the mail again.
38. Rent The Runway - Nice dress. Can I borrow it?
39. Nexmo - How billion-dollar start-ups text.
40. Fon - The Airbnb meets Uber and Aereo of Wi-Fi.
41. Airbnb - The newest idea in room service: renting one.
42. MongoDB - Solving humongous data problems.
43. Oscar - Health insurance for the Obamacare era.
44. Kumu Networks - A much-needed boost for wireless networks.
45. Betterment - Robo-advising for the masses.
46. Kymeta - Bill Gates' next potential blockbuster.
47. Twilio - Riding the mobile-app wave.
48. Snapchat - The app for selfie photo lovers.
49. Kickstarter - Cashing in from the crowd.
50. Birchbox - Free samples, for a price.