There are underlying trends in the business models of unicorn companies.

1. 1
THE BUSINESS MODELS BEHIND THE
BEST BILLION-DOLLAR UNICORNS

2. The Business Models behind the Best
Billion-Dollar Unicorns
2
Unicorns Business Model
Market Cap
(US Dollars)
Date Founded
Airbnb
Brokerage fees on latent capacity in
accommodation
$29.3B August 2008
Uber
Brokerage fees on latent capacity in
vehicles
$68B March 2009
Delivery Hero Brokerage fees on delivery services $5B 2011
Google Advertising based on search $676B September 1998
Pinterest Advertising based on social media $12.3B March 2010
Snapchat Advertising based on social media $19.3B September 2011
Sources: Yahoo Finance

3. 3
Unicorns Business Model
Market Cap
(US Dollars)
Date Founded
Dropbox Subscription fees on server space $10B 2007
Evernote Subscription fees on server space $205M 2008
GitHub Subscription fees on server space $2B 2008
Netflix
Subscription to other company’s media
and proprietary media
$79.13B August 1997
Sources: Yahoo Finance
The Business Models behind the Best
Billion-Dollar Unicorns

4. 4
Unicorns Business Model
Market Cap
(US Dollars)
Date Founded
Tesla
Manufacture and sell vehicles, own the
data, focus on software backbone
$54.19B 2003
SpaceX
Charge for delivery into space on
proprietary hardware, cost-competitive
model
$33.47B 2002
Solarcity
Manufacture and sell solar panels and
batteries, with software and scale
$2.05B July 2006
Alibaba Marketplace, with a focus on advertising $384.74B April 1999
Amazon
Marketplace, with a focus on retail margin
and brokerage fees. Lowest cost provider
with maximum scale
$491.693B July 1994
Sources: Yahoo Finance
The Business Models behind the Best
Billion-Dollar Unicorns

5. 5
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