Billion Dollar Unicorns: Net-a-Porter Cracks The Luxury Fashion Market

The Billion Dollar Unicorn club, of course, is not restricted to cloud technology. Here is an analysis of a luxury retailer Net-a-Porter, which successfully leveraged principles of e-commerce and strong design to become the club’s member.

According to recent market reports, online sales within the luxury segment still account for a modest 5% share. The global luxury market is expected to be worth $270 billion. Analysts believe that online penetration within the segment is growing 30% annually and should account for nearly 20% of luxury revenues by the end of the decade. Another report by McKinsey revealed that the online avatar of the luxury market was growing twice as fast as the offline market.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Will Box Implode Post IPO?

There is no shortage of private Billion Dollar Unicorns today given the feeding frenzy that VCs are partaking in by investing in late-stage ventures at astronomical valuations. In fact, of late, fund managers have been thoroughly irresponsible by investing at sky rocketing and sometimes senseless valuations giving rise to a slew of private startups that may not have the luxury of a public market exit at similar valuations. One such company is cloud storage services provider Box, which continues to struggle with its IPO pricing and timing.

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Unicorn In The Making: Yext Planning IPO Soon

Continuing with our analysis of Billion Dollar Unicorns, here is a digital advertising start-up Yext, which is yet to hit the billion dollar valuation mark. Its stellar performance does make it a potential Unicorn.

According to eMarketer, the global spending on ads on Internet-connected devices including desktops and mobile devices were estimated to grow 15% over the year to $137.53 billion in 2014. Digital ad spend was estimated to account for just over 25% of all paid media spending worldwide compared with 20% in 2012. Overall digital spending is expected to grow to $204.01 billion by the year 2018.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: A Rare Media Venture Called Vice

According to researchers, the global digital video streaming industry is projected to grow from $3.3 billion in 2014 to over $10 billion in the next five years. Digital streaming is not only restricted to TV series and movies, but it is also expanding within the fields of journalism. Within the segment, Billion Dollar Unicorn club member Vice Media is gaining a strong foothold in the market.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Tableau’s Valuation Increases to $6 Billion

No Billion Dollar Unicorn story can be complete without a discussion on data anlaytics start-up, Tableau Software (NYSE: DATA). Here is the story of how Christian Cabot started this capital efficient unicorn company.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: ServiceNow’s Expanding Market Opportunity

Here is a brief write-up on another Billion Dollar Unicorn Club member — cloud-based IT Services Management (ITSM) vendor, ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW). ServiceNow has shown how to create a multi-billion dollar enterprise by relying solely on domain expertise.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Workday’s Ramp to Multi-Billion Valuation

Continuing with the Billion Dollar Unicorn posts, here is another mega hit in the category: SaaS-based enterprise services provider for human resources, payroll and financial management, Workday (NYSE: WDAY). >>>

Billion Dollar Unicorns: How Marketo Is Faring In The Public Market

Last year, we began tracking some Unicorn companies – essentially organizations with billion dollar plus valuations – inspired by a TechCrunch article by Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures. Some of these Unicorn companies went public last year and have reasserted their high valuations. One such company on my radar is digital marketing solutions provider Marketo (Nasdaq:MKTO). The case study of the company’s founding and entrepreneurial journey is featured in my new book, Billion Dollar Unicorns.

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