Katie Henderson
We live in the golden age of starting your own company and growing it into a multi-billion dollar juggernaut. Forty years ago the resources, money and talent to start a new company was greatly lacking which grew the barrier to entry for any young entrepreneur to start one.
Of course, we saw a handful of exceptions like Apple, Microsoft and Oracle who went on to eventually grow their companies into billion dollar tech giants. But even those companies took years before they reached the billion dollar mark.
Over the years, we saw innovation sweep through the consumer market making it more accessible to find information, acquire talent, communicate with teams and build businesses.
With all of these advancements, it is easier than ever to build new business ideas, acquire capital and drive a successful startup.
With that said, we have seen the number of billion dollar business increase over the last few years. These are businesses that have not even been around for very long as well!
Here are 17 billion-dollar startups that didn’t exist 5 years ago.
Gusto: $1.07 billion
Gusto is a cloud-based payroll and benefits system which was founded in November 2011, but you might know it from it formerly as, ZenPayroll. Gusto does it all from filing all local, state, and federal payroll taxes to sending employee paystubs and Q-2s, to integrating benefits and workers’ comp to help manage everything in one place. Gusto has you covered.
Uptake Technologies: $1.10 billion
In 2014, former Groupon founder Brad Keywell started a secretive Chicago-based data-analytics startup. Uptake helps companies understand and act on their data. They are a singular platform that defines data-driven insight in major global industries. The Uptake platform helps companies avoid failures within operations, work more efficiently and discover new value.
