Billion Dollar Unicorns: Apttus Ready for IPO

According to a Forrester report, the public cloud market is expected to reach $191 billion by 2020, from $58 billion in 2013. Cloud applications, projected at $133 billion in 2020, are leading this growth; cloud platforms will generate $44 billion in revenue by 2020; and cloud business services will come in at $14 billion. Billion Dollar Unicorn Apttus is one of the many startups to benefit from the growth in the cloud applications market. >>>

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Adyen is on a Roll

According to a BCG report on the global payment processing market, payments businesses generated $425 billion in transaction revenues in 2013. The market is expected to grow to $807 trillion by the year 2023, translating to a 8% annualized growth rate. Here is a quick recap of what payment processing services provider and Billion Dollar Unicorn club member Adyen has been up to over the past few months.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Avant is Revolutionizing Consumer Credit

According to the latest Federal Reserve data, the US consumer credit market size was $3.4 billion in 2014, recording a 10% growth over the $3.1 billion credit as of 2013. Avant, the latest entrant to the Billion Dollar Unicorn club, is trying to convert this industry to an online marketplace and is seeing great success so far.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Tanium Simplifies Cyber Security

The increasingly ubiquitous Internet, mobile devices, social media, and the BYOD trend are making it difficult for enterprises to control the security of the thousands of devices in their network. In the recent past, most enterprises have seen a considerable spike in the number of cyber attacks. As a result, the cyber security sector is finally getting the attention it deserves. According to Gartner, the global cyber security market is expected to grow from $67 billion in 2013 to $93 billion in 2017. Billion Dollar Unicorn Tanium is making huge inroads into this market. >>>

Billion Dollar Unicorns: Snapchat Experiments With Revenues

I have never understood the idea behind venture capitalists driving multi-billion dollar valuations for companies that keep struggling with finding a successful revenue model. One such story is that of Billion Dollar Unicorn player Snapchat, which has seen their valuations skyrocket while still experimenting with a viable monetization opportunity. >>>

Billion Dollar Unicorns: Beepi Disintermediates Used Car Dealerships

A recent IBISWorld report estimates the online US car dealers market to have grown a modest 2.9% annually over the period 2010 through 2015 to be worth $24 billion this year. Compare this figure with the 9% growth rate delivered by the US Car and Automobile manufacturing industry’s growth during the same period. Another IBISWorld report pegs the total car and automotive manufacturing industry in the country to be worth $127 billion. Driving online sales for cars is obviously not easy, but Billion Dollar Unicorn player Beepi is working hard to turn that trend around.

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Baidu Bets Big on O2O

According to iResearch, the Online-to-Offline or O2O service industry is expected to grow between 20% and 50%. The CAGR in the reverse Offline to Online industry is expected to surpass 600%. Baidu is now keenly focused on tapping this opportunity.

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Shutterfly Delivers Strong Results, But the Stock Continues to Tank

A recent IBISWorld report on the online photo printing market in the US estimated the industry to have grown 10% annually over the period 2009 to 2014 to $2 billion. Leading online photo printing player Shutterfly (Nasdaq: SFLY) reported second quarter results that were better than the market’s forecast.

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From E-Commerce to Web 3.0: MercadoLibre Still Dominates Latin America

According to a Forrester research report, Brazil’s business-to-consumer e-commerce sales are projected to grow from $17.8 billion in 2014 to $40.8 billion in 2019. Argentina, the second largest market in the region, is expected to see e-commerce sales grow from $3.4 billion in 2014 to $8.3 million in 2019 and over the same period, Mexico will see revenues grow from $2.8 billion to $6.7 billion. Latin America’s e-commerce leader MercadoLibre is continuing to thrive in this rapid growth market. >>>

Billion Dollar Unicorns: ContextLogic Marries Wish Lists to Vendors

According to a recent US Census Bureau report, the country’s retail e-commerce sales, adjusted for seasonal variation, grew 4.2% over the year to $83.9 billion during the second quarter this year. Total retail sales during the same period grew 1.6% to $1,171.5 billion. Billion Dollar Unicorn player ContextLogic appears to be reaping the full benefits of this growing market.

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