Up and Coming Unicorns 🦄

December 16, 2020

The Daily Stack is a daily market insight newsletter by PrivCo, a private market intelligence platform. Read our previous insights.
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Despite the challenges of 2020, there are a number of companies that have thrived. Here we look into some up and coming unicorn companies that are at $700MM+ valuation and are sure to reach unicorn status in 2021 based on their growth this year.

Credit: freepik

IPO-ready
Pulmonx Corporation was founded in 1998 in Redwood City, California, this medical device company, that develops equipment for patients with severe emphysema, received equity funding in May led by Ally Bridge Group of $66MM. All eyes on their IPO next year as their intention had been to IPO this year.

Backed by Bill Gates
Kallyope is a platform biotechnology company dedicated to unlocking the therapeutic potential of the gut-brain axis to improve human health and is headquartered in New York. It received a Round C funding in March this year by a number of venture capitalists as well as a second round of funding from angel investor, Bill Gates.

AI optimization speeds ahead
Dataiku offers a centralized collaborative data science platform designed to explore, prototype, build and deliver owned data products efficiently. The company helps other enterprises use their data to create machine-learning and AI models for operational projects, such as driving fraud detection, customer churn prevention, predictive maintenance, and supply chain optimization. It was founded in New York in 2013 and received a $100MM round of funding led by Stripes Group in August.

Healthcare continues to make headlines.
Omada Health operates as a digital healthcare provider that helps with preventative care by partnering with employers, health plans, and health systems to prevent diseases like diabetes before individuals become high risk. Its diabetes prevention program is said to be the largest with over 85,000 users. The company was founded in 2011 by Adrian James, Andrew Di Michele, and Sean Duffy in San Francisco, California. The company was already well established in 2019 and continues to gain investor confidence this year. It is ranked 5th in our most resilient companies of 2020. Here are some more healthcare companies to be on the lookout for. Read here

Selling a lot of greek food!
Kronos Foods from Glendale Heights, Illinois is a private manufacturer of specialty Greek food and was founded in 1975 by Chris Tomaras. It has had a successful 2020, doubling its revenue this year. It has also caught the attention of private equity firm Entrepreneurial Equity Partners who specializes in investments in food and consumer packaged goods and was acquired in February.

Amazon unveils autonomous robotaxi

Self-driving company Zoox, acquired by Amazon in June, shared its carriage style self-driving taxis to the public. The taxis can travel up to 75 mph for up to 16 hrs on one charge.
[CNBC]

Dollar stores are thriving

A new dollar store opens on average in the US every six hours according to Business Insider.
[Business Insider]

Since last week, PrivCo has added:
1155 Companies | 188 Funding Activities | 226 M&A Deals

Funding & Deal Highlights:

Grove Collaborative raises $125MM
E-Commerce General Retail • Equity • San Francisco, CA

Yonghui Fresh Food raises $153MM led by Tencent and CICC
Food & Beverage Retail • Equity • Beijing, China

Electronic Arts acquires Codemasters
Games Software & Internet Services • Acquisition • United Kingdom

Huntington Bancshares acquires TCF Financial
Investment Banking • Acquisition • Detroit, MI

Goldman Sachs to acquire People Corporation
Insurance Services • Acquisition • Canada

TriMas acquires Affaba & Ferrari, a designer and manufacture of caps and closures for food & beverages
Industrial Products • Acquisition • Bloomfield Hills, MI

Olympic Steel acquires Action Stainless & Alloys
Agricultural Products • Acquisition • Carrollton, TX

SteelSeries acquires KontrolFreek
Consumer Products • Acquisition • Atlanta, GA

USI acquires Venneberg Insurance
Insurance Services • Acquisition • Sitka, AK

IntelliSite acquires Broad Sky Networks
Telecommunication Services • Acquisition • Bend, OR

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