As early stage investors and hopeful hardware unicorn breeders, we looked into the situation of hardware unicorns and up-and-coming “ponies”.

1. Robot Unicorns Attack!
by HAXLR8R
HARDWARE UNICORNS

2. 0"
1"
2"
3"
4"
5"
6"
7"
8"
9"
10"
Sonos"
Roku"Xiaom
i"
GoPro"Square"Jawbone"
Nest"
Beats"
M
agic"Leap"Oculus"
Razer"
Kiva"System
s"M
akerbot"Dropcam
"
Boston"Dynam
ics"
Prim
eSense"
Fitbit"
Parrot"
Sm
artThings"iHealth"
Aldebaran"RoboTcs"
Basis"
TOP HARDWARE STARTUPS: RECENT VALUATIONS
M&A
Private
IPO
Source: Crunchbase
Note: Valuation or acquisition price was found for 20 out of the 41 companies
Sonos and Roku are likely to have a valuation over $1B
? ?
$B
UNICORNS PONIES

3. Comments
• 7 out of 11 unicorns are from the USA. Except
Xiaomi (CHI) and Razer (SIN).
• Xiaomi is an amazing home run in a mere 4
years, rumored to be raising new funding at a $42B
valuation.
• M&As prevail overs IPOs.

4. Apple Beats PrimeSense
Amazon Kiva Systems
Facebook Oculus
Google Nest Dropcam Boston Dynamics
Intel Basis
Samsung SmartThings
SoftBank Aldebaran Robotics
Stratasys Makerbot
3D Robotics Sifteo
ACQUISITIONS

5. Comments
• Software companies are buying hardware
(Google, Facebook, Amazon).
• Crowdfunding already generated large exits
(Oculus, SmartThings).
• The pace of acquisitions is accelerating. Two
companies exited for over $1B in a mere 4 years.

6. 0"
100"
200"
300"
400"
500"
600"
Magic"Leap"
Square"
Jawbone"
Beats"
Xiaomi"
Sonos"
GoPro"
Roku"
Anki"
Oculus"
Lytro"
Nest"
Fitbit"
Razer"
Dropcam"
Leap"MoKon"
Basis"
Leeo"
3D"RoboKcs"
Zepp"Labs"
Withings"
PrimeSense"
Pebble"
iHealth"
Ouya"
Misfit"
FormLabs"
Aldebaran"RoboKcs"
LiRlebits"
Tile"
SmartThings"
Osmo"
SiTeo"
Avegant"
Whill"
Kiva"Systems"
August"
Makerbot"
Note: VC funding amount was found for 38 out of the 41 companies.
Missing are: DJI, Boston Dynamics, Parrot (and Razer's latest round).
M&A
Private
IPO
TOP HARDWARE STARTUPS: VC FUNDING
$M
Source: Crunchbase

7. Comments
• 8 out of 34 top hardware startups are from the USA. Other
exceptions are iHealth (CHI), Parrot, Withings & Aldebaran
Robotics (FRA), PrimeSense (ISR), Pebble (CAN).
• It is not surprising as the USA enjoy the largest domestic
market, entrepreneurial ecosystem and early adopter
population.
• Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China are trailing despite talent in
consumer electronics, still locked into MNCs.
• 7 out of the 41 top hardware startups leveraged
crowdfunding. It is unlikely to be a fad.

8. 0"
2"
4"
6"
8"
10"
12"
Pebble" Ouya" Formlabs" Tile" Oculus" SmartThings" Misfit"
TOP HARDWARE STARTUPS: CROWDFUNDING
Selfstarter
$M

9. 100#
1,000#
10,000#
2000# 2002# 2004# 2006# 2008# 2010# 2012# 2014#
10#
100#
1,000#
2000# 2002# 2004# 2006# 2008# 2010# 2012# 2014#
VALUATION & FUNDING VS. FOUNDING DATE
$M $M
VALUATION VS. FOUNDING DATE VC FUNDING VS. FOUNDING DATE

10. Comments
• 27 out of 41 are less than 5 years old
• 10 out of the top 20 known valuations
• 27 out of the top 38 by known VC funds raised
• Scaling with hardware is faster than ever!

11. 3d Printing Makerbot FormLabs
AR & VR Oculus Magic Leap Avegant
AV Sonos Roku
Drones DJI Parrot 3D Robotics
Education / Toys LittleBits Osmo Sifteo
Gaming Razer Ouya
Health iHealth Whill
Home & Security Nest Dropcam SmartThings Leeo August
Lifestyle GoPro Beats Jawbone Withings Tile
Payments Square
Robotics Kiva Systems Boston Dynamics Aldebaran Robotics Anki
Sensors & Interfaces PrimeSense Leap Motion Lytro
Smartphones Xiaomi
Sports Tech Zepp Labs
Wearables Fitbit Pebble Misfit Basis
TOP HARDWARE STARTUPS: CATEGORIES
M&A
Private
IPO
Unicorn

12. Comments
• AR/VR and Lifestyle are the only categories with 2
unicorns so far.
• Wearables and Lifestyle are the most visible as
they are the most “consumer” products, but the
category is far from dominating.
• Home & Security and Robotics seem to be on the
rise and attracting buyers.

13. About us
• Accelerator for hardware startups
• “Lean Hardware” pioneer
• #1 investor in crowdfunded
hardware startups
www.haxlr8r.com
makeit@haxlr8r.com
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