Billion Dollar Unicorns: Coupang Raises the Banner for South Korea

According to a recent eMarketer market, the total retail e-commerce market in South Korea is estimated to grow 11% this year to $36.76 billion, making them the third largest e-commerce market in the Asia-Pacific region, after China and Japan. E-commerce is expected to account for nearly 10% of South Korea’s total retail market share. The South Korean market is expected to grow to $47.8 billion by the year 2018. Billion Dollar Unicorn club member Coupang is already making big strides in the region.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Box Struggles in its Public Avatar

I have repeatedly written about the VC funding frenzy that has taken companies with doubtful business models to lofty valuations and exorbitant amounts of funding. Driven by such valuations, it is little surprise then that on the public stock exchanges even Billion Dollar Unicorns have faltered. Cloud storage company Box is one such example. After continuing to struggle with the timing of an IPO, Box went public earlier this year. Since listing, their valuation has been declining and the stock continues to struggle to go past its list price.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Dianping is Thriving in China with its Local Reviews Business

It is not just in the US where local business review sites such as Care.com and Angie’s List have gained lofty valuations from VC funding while relying on a faulty business model. The phenomenon has spread internationally where companies are counting on crowdsourced local reviews to drive advertising and subscription revenues across their platform. One such company is China’s Billion Dollar Unicorn club member Dianping. But Dianping appears to be taking good measures to rework this business model into one that actually may work. >>>

HomeAway Attempts to Regain Market Confidence Through Tie-Ups

After a disappointing first quarter performance, vacation rental site HomeAway (Nasdaq: AWAY) recently announced second quarter results that surpassed market expectations. Additionally, they have been tying up with several other online services providers in an effort to simplify the vacation planning process for their customers.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Garena Secures Singapore’s Entry to the Club

There aren’t many Southeast Asia-based companies that have joined the prestigious Billion Dollar Unicorn club. Singapore-based online and mobile entertainment provider Garena is one of the few who has joined the club and continues to grow at record pace. >>>

Watson Could Hold the Answers to IBM’s Woes

IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) revenues have been declining for a while now. But the company does not seem too worried as they continue to drive focus toward other investments, the biggest one being Watson. IBM’s cognitive system, Watson, has become the most well known example of super computers. Watson follows the human thinking process of observing, interpreting, evaluating and decision making to help automate processes across multiple industries. And IBM is ensuring they leave no stone unturned to support Watson.

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Carnival in the Cloud: Workday Delivers a Surprise Profit

According to Allied Market Research, the Global ERP Software Market is expected to grow 7% annually over the period 2014 through 2020 to be worth $41.69 billion. SaaS-based enterprise services provider Workday (NYSE: WDAY) has been doing well in this market. In fact, in the recent quarter, the company managed to sneak in a profit. It is hard to predict if they will manage to retain this profitability, but for now, things appear to be looking up.

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Care.com Needs Some TLC for Itself

According to a recent IBISWorld research report, the US home health care market is estimated to be worth $73 billion this year, having grown a modest 1.5% annually over the period 2010 through 2015. Another IBISWorld report pegs the country’s spend on child day care to be worth $45 billion this year, having declined 0.8% annually over the five year period ending 2015. While 59% of this day care revenue is derived from services provided in licensed day care centers, a reasonable portion is also spent on in-home care providers. Online care destination Care.com (NYSE: CRCM) diversified into the social commerce segment last year to drive growth.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Splunk Beefs Up Cyber Security

According to a MarketsandMarkets report published earlier this summer, the global cyber security market is estimated to be worth $170.21 billion by 2020, recording a growth of 10% annually over the five year period 2015 through 2020. The market is projected to be worth $106.32 billion this year. Big Data analytics software solutions provider and Billion Dollar Unicorn club member Splunk (NASDAQ: SPLK) is making a foray into this market.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Delivery Hero Gets Multi-Billion Dollar Valuation for Food Delivery

Recent market reports peg the global food ordering market to be worth $70 billion with nearly $9 billion of it being conducted online. A report by Cowen and Company suggests that the online food ordering market will be more than the offline food ordering market by the year 2020. Billion Dollar Unicorn club member Delivery Hero is growing rapidly in the online food ordering segment.

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