From E-Commerce to Web 3.0: Wayfair Impressive Even Under Public Scrutiny

According to an IBIS World report, the US online home furnishings market has grown 20% annually over the period 2010 through 2015 to be worth $8 billion. Over the same period, the US online house furniture market grew 16% to $16 billion. Wayfair (NYSE: W) is the largest pure-play online retailer of home goods in the country. Last year, it went public and even under public scrutiny, its performance remains impressive.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Warby Parker Joins the Club

According to a Grand View Research report, the global market for eyewear is expected to reach $142.18 billion by 2020 from $90 billion in 2013. The North American eyewear market, which was valued at $35 billion in 2013, is projected to reach $47 billion in 2020. Market research company IBISWorld estimates the US market for online sales of eyeglasses and contact lenses to be worth $344 million. Online eyewear retailer Warby Parker has joined the Billion Dollar Unicorn Club riding on the success of its niche e-commerce business. >>>

Billion Dollar Unicorns: Online Lender SoFi Puts Off IPO Plans

According to Inside Mortgage Finance, non-banks were responsible for 37.5% of US home loans in 2014, up from 26.7% in 2013. PwC expects non-banks to grow at a 33% annual rate to $150 billion by 2025. Social Finance Inc. is one such online lender that has seen its valuation triple in six months after it joined the Billion Dollar Unicorn Club. >>>

Billion Dollar Unicorns: Beibei the Baby of the Club

According to a Euromonitor report, the baby and child-specific products market has seen double digit growth in China due to the comparatively big number of newborns and rising disposable incomes. Over the period 2009 through 2014, China’s annual childbirths have reached an average of 15-17 million. The recent relaxation of the country’s One-Child Policy is only going to add to that number. Niche commerce player Beibei is already leveraging this high-growth market along with the rising Internet adoption in the country to achieve the Billion Dollar Unicorn status.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Thumbtack Joins the Ranks

Analysts estimate the local commerce market for service providers to be anywhere between $400 billion-$800 billion. Despite its size, the industry is still heavily reliant on word-of-mouth and Yellow Pages like services. But the market is opening up and bigger vendors like Amazon and Google are joining in. Recently, Thumbtack, another smaller platform in the industry, joined the Billion Dollar Unicorn club with a model that is marginally different from the rest.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: ZocDoc Should Be Able To Withstand Public Market Scrutiny

It is well-known that the healthcare industry has been rather slow in adopting the benefits of the digital age. While federal regulations may have led to the implementation of the electronic health record system, when it comes to the simple task of taking an appointment over the Net, things still aren’t quite there. Billion Dollar Unicorn player ZocDoc realized this early in the day and has made significant advances to tap into this market opportunity.

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Challenges and Opportunities for Split HP

Early this month, Hewlett Packard split into two companies — HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (NYSE: HPE). HP Inc. will be dealing with the computers and printers business while HP Enterprise will include the software, storage, services, cloud, and financial segments. This post will look at the challenges as well as the opportunities for these two companies. >>>

Billion Dollar Unicorns: Machine Zone Translates Multi-Player Games to Multi-Billion Valuation

According to Superdata Research, the online massively-multiplayer (MMO) game industry is estimated to grow to $11 billion in 2015, accounting for 21% of the worldwide digital games market. The industry is estimated to be worth $13 billion by 2017. Free-to-play constitutes the biggest pie of this market with $9.3 billion in revenues in 2015 and growing to $11.1 billion by 2017. The pay-to-play segment is expected to grow from $2.3 billion in 2015 to $1.7 billion by 2017. Leading online MMO game developer and Billion Dollar Unicorn Machine Zone is already witnessing rapid growth in adoption and market valuation.

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Carnival in the Cloud: Workday and Oracle Continue to Battle it Out

According to a recent research report, cloud-based Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions market is estimated to have grown 21% in 2014 to $6.1 billion. It is further expected to grow to $10 billion by 2019 at a CAGR of 10%. SAP is the leader in the market with 11% share and Workday (NYSE: WDAY) is the second largest player accounting for 9% of the market, followed by Ultimate Software with 7% share and Oracle with 6% share.

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What Lies Ahead for Salesforce?

According to Gartner, worldwide CRM software sales grew 13.3% to $23.2 billion in 2014. About 47% of the sales were SaaS-based, which has helped Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) grow its market share to 18.6% in the No.1 spot. Salesforce has been successful in leveraging SaaS in CRM for its growth. Its recent results are a testimony to that. But now, it is looking at analytics and verticals for more growth. >>>