2016 IPO Prospects: BigCommerce Prepares to List

According to market research firm eMarketer, global e-commerce sales will be worth $3.5 trillion by the year 2019. By 2019, e-commerce is estimated to account for 12.4% of total retail sales compared with 7.3% share in 2014. Australian company BigCommerce is helping turn this growth forecast into reality.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: WeWork Riding the Sharing Economy Wave

About 80% US consumers are expected to be using the sharing economy by 2017 and about 40% people are expected to be freelancers by 2020. These factors coupled with the surge in VC funding for sharing economy startups are driving up the value of shared-office company WeWork, which is among the top ten Billion Dollar Unicorns. >>>

Billion Dollar Unicorns: Souq.com the Middle East Entry to the Club

According to a PayPal report, the e-commerce market in the Middle East was expected to be worth $15 billion in 2015, with about 10% of the transactions occurring on mobile devices. Another report from Payfort put the value of the e-commerce sector in the Middle East at $7 billion in 2015 and projected that the industry would be worth up to $10 billion in the UAE and Saudi Arabia by 2020. Souq.com is a leading e-commerce company in the Middle East that has recently joined the Billion Dollar Unicorn Club. >>>

From Unicorn to Unicorpse: Zomato Flounders

Over the past year, several companies have seen their valuations plummet. After years of stellar increases in valuation, some of it unjustified, the VCs have finally begun to reevaluate business models and assign justifiable valuations to companies. The process has resulted in the creation of several unicorpses*. One such story is that of India’s restaurant search and discovery portal Zomato. >>>

Billion Dollar Unicorns: TutorGroup Enters the Club

According to research reports, the market for learning English in China is growing 25% a year and is expected to be worth $21 billion in revenue by the end of 2016. China state media claims that the country has as many as 400 million English-language learners at the beginning of the decade. Billion Dollar Unicorn club member TutorGroup is catering to this high growth market.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Yello Mobile Acquires its Way into the Club

Unlike most other startups that stick to their core offering and grow inorganically, South Korean Billion Dollar Unicorn club entrant Yello Mobile has gone the other way. Yello Mobile’s mission from the beginning has been to provide users with mobile apps that can be used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To deliver on that mission, Yello Mobile has been on an unending acquisition spree since its inception.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Japan’s Mercari Joins the Club

According to an AT Kearney report, global e-commerce sales are expected to grow from $840 million in 2014 to $1.5 trillion in 2018. US, China, UK, and Japan are some of the most attractive e-commerce markets due to their size, consumer behavior, and infrastructure. These factors have also helped Japan’s Mercari to make it to the Billion Dollar Unicorn Club. >>>

Salesforce Focuses on AI

According to MarketandMarkets, the artificial intelligence (AI) market is estimated to grow from $419.7 million in 2014 to $5.05 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 53.65% from 2015 to 2020. The Media and Advertising sector is expected to drive the growth of AI during this period. IBM, Microsoft, and Google are key players in the market, and now Salesforce is trying to make inroads into it. >>>

Vertical Expansion and MarTech Dominate Oracle’s Cloud Buying Spree

Over the past 10 years, Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) has spent more than $50 billion on making more than 100 acquisitions. While the year 2015 was a bit tepid on the acquisition front, it has made up for it this year by already announcing five acquisitions, three of which were announced over the past month. >>>

Billion Dollar Unicorns: Decolar is the Latin American Entry to the Club

Analysts at Phocuswright estimate the Latin American total travel market to be a $100 billion market opportunity this year with online travel accounting for an average 15% of the spend across more than 20 countries in the region. The region is dominated by six key markets – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru with Brazil accounting for $36 billion gross booking market opportunity this year. Decolar is a leading player in the market and also a rare Billion Dollar Unicorn from the region.

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