Unicorn Media Index Q1'16: Who Ranks Where Across News, Social and Search?

Unicorn Media Index™: Who Ranks
Where Across News, Social and Search?
Q1’16 Edition

VISIBILITY + MOMENTUM: WHO RANKS WHERE AND WHY?
Unicorns are a phenomenon. Over the past two
years, they have gone from mythical creature to
tech meme – spawning greed and envy for global
entrepreneurs, investors and recruiters. Some
claim we’re now in a “post-unicorn” world and yet
the class of $1B+ private companies continues to
expand and contract weekly – providing a valuable
microcosm to understand today’s tech trends and
startup dynamics.
To that end, this report studies 145 unicorns to
benchmark their visibility and momentum across
news, social and search channels. This is especially
relevant because startups need “out-sized” visibility
to attract customers and prospects, and they need
to demonstrate momentum for recruiting top talent
and investors.
We built our unicorn list based on three primary
sources: Dow Jones VentureSource; CB Insights;
and CrunchBase. We then used specialized media
analysis tools to track monthly News, Social and
Search volumes for each company. Finally, we
applied our Earned Media Index™ methodology to
aggregate performance for easy comparison of
visibility and momentum over time.
As we learned in our pilot study of 75 unicorns, it’s
clear that unicorn status and valuation alone do not
dictate media performance. Some “megastars” and
“superstars” rise above the herd. Some grew their
visibility in Q1 while others declined. And all are
impacted by a mix of category performance,
company success factors and channel dynamics.
We look forward to your feedback…
2

UNICORN MEDIA INDEX Q1’16: KEY FINDINGS
Snapchat breaks out as runaway social media phenomenon
•  Snapchat (#1 earned media, #7 valuation) is up 81% over 2015, nearly doubles #2 Pinterest
Uber jumps up to #3 ranking in otherwise stable top 12
•  Pinterest (#2 earned media, #11 valuation) stays a strong second with 3% increase over 2015
•  Uber (#3 earned media, #1 valuation) moves up from #6 with 28% increase in earned media
•  Airbnb (up 21%) and Snapdeal (down 15%) swap positions at #8 and #9
Rankings led by 11 “megastars,” 8 “superstars” and 22 “stars”
•  Megastars and superstars averaged a 15% increase in Q1’16, with 10 risers and 5 decliners
•  Media stars likewise averaged a 26% increase, with 8 risers and 5 decliners
Source: Big Valley analysis of monthly News, Social and Search volumes, indexed to 100 based on highest Jan’15 channel scores, then
aggregated into a composite Earned Media Index. Data from IT Database, Sysomos and Google AdWords.
3

UNICORN MEDIA INDEX Q1’16: KEY FINDINGS
Valuation influences but doesn’t dictate earned media performance
•  Docker, Zomato Media and 8 others out-performed their valuation ranking by 70+ positions
•  Eight of the 10 significant under-performers are Chinese firms with limited global visibility
Other companies of note
•  Github led the B2B pack to become a “megastar” in Q1, fueled by its developer fan base
•  Slack added 35% in Q1 to graduate from “star” to “superstar” – another B2B standout
•  Zenefits grew 93% on CEO resignation, compliance investigation and “sex in the stairwell”
•  Theranos also grew 56% on bad news, including 57 monthly news stories (vs. 34/month in 2015)
•  DJI declined 39% on drone fatigue, while Magic Leap jumped 73% on virtual reality buzz
4

UNICORNS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL
MEDIA MEGASTARS
(Earned Media Index > 10.00)
Company
Q1’16
Rank
Q1’16
Index
Q1’16
Change
2015
Rank
2015
Index
Snapchat 1 89.71 ▲81% 1 49.55
Pinterest 2 45.38 ▲3% 2 44.24
Uber 3 42.05 ▲28% 6 32.88
Spotify 4 40.39 ▲6% 3 38.01
Dropbox 5 34.22 ▼4% 4 35.76
Flipkart 6 30.78 ▼10% 5 34.34
Xiaomi 7 24.55 ▼4% 7 25.63
Airbnb 8 22.67 ▲21% 9 18.77
Snapdeal 9 17.63 ▼15% 8 20.67
BuzzFeed 10 16.06 ▲2% 10 15.75
Github 11 10.73 ▲13% 11 9.46
MEDIA SUPERSTARS
Company
Q1’16
Rank
Q1’16
Index
Q1’16
Change
2015
Rank
2015
Index
Credit Karma 12 7.84 ▲23% 12 6.37
Lyft 13 7.76 ▲49% 14 5.22
BlaBlaCar 14 6.45 N/A N/A N/A
Evernote 15 6.22 N/A N/A N/A
Tango 16 5.71 N/A N/A N/A
Razer 17 5.55 N/A N/A N/A
Slack 18 5.53 ▲35% 16 4.09
SpaceX 19 5.25 ▼2% 13 5.33
5

UNICORNS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL
MEDIA STARS
Company
Q1’16
Rank
Q1’16
Index
Q1’16
Change
2015
Rank
2015
Index
Jawbone 20 3.15 ▼30% 15 4.49
Zomato Media 21 2.22 N/A N/A N/A
Quikr 22 2.21 N/A N/A N/A
MongoDB 23 1.81 ▼4% 21 1.89
FanDuel 24 1.77 ▼24% 19 2.34
Houzz 25 1.71 ▲13% 24 1.51
DraftKings 26 1.70 N/A N/A N/A
DJI 27 1.61 ▼39% 18 2.64
Nutanix 28 1.58 ▲31% 26 1.21
Magic Leap 29 1.56 ▲73% 30 0.90
JustFab 30 1.50 N/A N/A N/A
MEDIA STARS
Company
Q1’16
Rank
Q1’16
Index
Q1’16
Change
2015
Rank
2015
Index
Blue Apron 31 1.44 ▲62% 31 0.89
Ola Cabs 32 1.41 ▲18% 27 1.20
Cloudera 33 1.37 ▼20% 22 1.72
Docker 34 1.34 N/A N/A N/A
Zeneﬁts 35 1.29 ▲93% 37 0.67
Instacart 36 1.26 ▼18% 23 1.54
Eventbrite 37 1.23 N/A N/A N/A
CloudFlare 38 1.22 N/A N/A N/A
Didi Chuxing
(Didi Kuaidi) 39 1.22 ▲33% 29 0.92
Stripe 40 1.07 ▼23% 25 1.39
Warby Parker 41 1.03 ▲5% 28 0.98
6

EARNED MEDIA VS. VALUATION
TOP 10 OVER-PERFORMERS
(Earned Media Rank vs. Valuation Rank)
Company
Q1’16
Index
Q1’16
Rank
Valuation
Rank
Over/
Under
Docker 1.34 34 139 +105
Zomato Media 2.22 21 124 +103
Quikr 2.21 22 121 +99
Tango 5.71 16 110 +94
Evernote 6.22 15 108 +93
Avast 0.76 51 143 +92
JustFab 1.50 30 114 +84
Udacity 0.73 53 136 +83
Twilio 0.79 49 126 +77
Eventbrite 1.23 37 109 +72
TOP 10 UNDER-PERFORMERS
(Earned Media Rank vs. Valuation Rank)
Company
Q1’16
Index
Q1’16
Rank
Valuation
Rank
Over/
Under
Zhong An 0.02 128 17 -111
Lufax 0.04 121 13 -108
UberChina 0.04 120 18 -102
VANCL 0.01 135 34 -101
ContextLogic 0.01 131 38 -93
Trendy Group 0.00 141 49 -92
Garena Online 0.08 110 28 -82
Global Fashion
Group 0.08 111 31 -80
Lakala.com 0.00 144 64 -80
Meituan-Dianping 0.21 80 6 -74
7

UNICORN MEDIA INDEX Q1’16: TOP 10
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Jan-15 Feb-15 Mar-15 Apr-15 May-15 Jun-15 Jul-15 Aug-15 Sep-15 Oct-15 Nov-15 Dec-15 Jan-16 Feb-16 Mar-16
EarnedMediaIndex™score
1. Snapchat 2. Pinterest 3. Uber 4. Spotify 5. Dropbox
6. Flipkart 7. Xiaomi 8. Airbnb 9. Snapdeal 10. BuzzFeed
8

UNICORN MEDIA INDEX Q1’16: TOP 20
Rank Company Index News/Search/Social Volume
11 Github 10.73 813 1,500,000 119,931
12 Credit Karma 7.84 11 7,026,667 4,420
13 Lyft 7.76 595 516,667 222,353
14 BlaBlaCar 6.45 14 5,746,667 1,197
15 Evernote 6.22 344 2,240,000 30,535
16 Tango 5.71 19 5,000,000 4,559
17 Razer 5.55 361 1,014,333 152,826
18 Slack 5.53 506 50,167 27,773
19 SpaceX 5.25 368 557,667 184,255
20 Jawbone 3.15 240 483,333 20,884
1 Snapchat 89.71 1,473 35,433,333 8,760,599
2 Pinterest 45.38 451 34,933,333 571,453
3 Uber 42.05 2,433 8,586,667 1,706,832
4 Spotify 40.39 1,572 16,600,000 1,375,792
5 Dropbox 34.22 936 21,900,000 73,096
6 Flipkart 30.78 736 20,400,000 154,783
7 Xiaomi 24.55 2,024 2,240,000 164,571
8 Airbnb 22.67 561 14,600,000 179,491
9 Snapdeal 17.63 459 11,100,000 149,830
10 BuzzFeed 16.06 692 4,393,333 973,824
9

UNICORN MEDIA INDEX Q1’16: 21-40
21 Zomato Media 2.22 91 1,073,333 20,667
22 Quikr 2.21 51 1,500,000 7,396
23 MongoDB 1.81 131 264,333 34,728
24 FanDuel 1.77 60 700,000 91,716
25 Houzz 1.71 19 1,220,000 42,632
26 DraftKings 1.70 60 574,333 109,319
27 DJI 1.61 134 11,533 42,631
28 Nutanix 1.58 137 79,500 10,711
29 Magic Leap 1.56 131 121,833 9,830
30 JustFab 1.50 4 1,313,333 3,989
31 Blue Apron 1.44 21 1,073,333 8,443
32 Ola Cabs 1.41 48 773,000 14,934
33 Cloudera 1.37 119 60,500 10,148
34 Docker 1.34 81 368,000 18,368
35 Zeneﬁts 1.29 97 163,667 21,501
36 Instacart 1.26 93 216,000 8,592
37 Eventbrite 1.23 32 632,000 51,048
38 CloudFlare 1.22 91 201,000 11,019
39 Didi Chuxing 1.22 112 12,633 4,060
40 Stripe 1.07 71 264,333 8,075
10

41 Warby Parker 1.03 48 450,000 6,313
42 Grabtaxi 0.99 49 422,667 3,763
43 Theranos 0.89 57 177,000 22,553
44 23andMe 0.86 36 395,333 10,887
45 Shopclues.com 0.83 47 194,000 30,799
46 Palantir 0.83 68 90,500 3,905
47 DocuSign 0.82 42 323,333 4,954
48 HelloFresh 0.79 9 607,667 7,430
49 Twilio 0.79 63 97,000 4,072
50 SimpliVity 0.77 70 19,467 2,088
51 Avast Software 0.76 70 7,600 2,202
52 WeWork 0.76 55 105,333 15,511
53 Udacity 0.73 38 264,333 9,180
54 Jet.com 0.73 34 323,333 3,119
55 Domo 0.65 36 231,000 2,462
56 InMobi 0.64 56 36,033 2,503
57 Shazam 0.64 20 3,133 105,806
58 Vox Media 0.63 57 20,833 2,099
59 Klarna 0.60 13 422,667 900
60 AppNexus 0.60 54 22,200 2,017
11

61 Lookout 0.55 5 450,000 1,449
62 Automattic 0.53 45 14,767 7,478
63 Okta 0.51 39 74,000 5,076
64 Pluralsight 0.49 16 264,333 8,198
65 Nextdoor 0.44 13 189,000 22,924
66 AppDynamics 0.41 35 33,100 2,069
67 Zscaler 0.36 30 31,100 1,175
68 Home24 0.36 2 305,000 98
69 ZocDoc 0.35 12 201,000 1,691
70 Qualtrics 0.35 15 158,667 2,763
71 Datto 0.33 28 19,467 2,807
72 Sprinklr 0.30 23 35,567 5,264
73 MuleSoft 0.28 21 38,033 3,673
74 Funding Circle 0.27 18 74,000 847
75 ForeScout 0.27 23 13,900 2,636
76 The Honest Co. 0.26 20 5,867 8,496
77 One97 0.24 22 6,600 197
78 Adyen 0.23 18 33,100 1,758
79 Kabam 0.23 4 165,000 1,411
80 Meituan-Dianping 0.21 19 1,640 1,569
12

81 Powa 0.21 16 16,133 7,169
82 Anaplan 0.21 15 31,933 3,687
83 Tanium 0.21 17 20,833 1,555
84 Thumbtack 0.20 18 263 2,150
85 Delivery Hero 0.20 12 60,500 952
86
Coupa
Software
0.20 17 4,400 2,084
87 AppDirect 0.19 17 6,200 1,705
88 Actifo 0.17 15 8,100 852
89 Mu Sigma 0.16 12 26,100 812
90 SoFi 0.15 13 6,600 1,036
91 Kabbage 0.15 9 40,500 1,356
92 Farfetch 0.15 13 160 3,431
93 MarkLogic 0.14 11 10,633 1,595
94 UCar 0.13 2 97,000 707
95 Apttus 0.13 10 14,800 2,988
96 Uptake 0.12 9 203 8,190
97 Fanatics 0.12 10 10,033 2,117
98 Inﬁnidat 0.12 10 5,800 526
99
Oscar Health
Insurance
0.11 8 13,000 1,917
100 Medallia 0.10 3 60,500 630
13

101 Avant 0.10 7 25,833 419
102 IronSource 0.09 8 4,733 777
103
Proteus Digital
Health
0.09 8 4,733 414
104
Prosper
Marketplace
0.09 8 5,400 970
105 Ele.me 0.09 8 1,400 176
106 InsideSales.com 0.09 8 1,200 1,383
107 Coupang 0.09 4 40,500 94
108 Moderna 0.09 3 43,500 2,386
109 Kik Interactive 0.08 5 3,867 5,241
110 Garena Online 0.08 6 2,900 4,470
111
Global Fashion
Group
0.08 7 3,600 30
112 Gusto 0.08 6 10,933 1,000
113 Deem.com 0.07 7 227 258
114 Bloom Energy 0.06 4 19,467 348
115 Oxford Nanopore 0.06 4 5,867 2,048
116 Mogujie 0.05 4 2,133 379
117 APUS Group 0.05 4 1,667 780
118 Mozido 0.05 4 5,633 148
119 Mode Media 0.04 4 4,400 301
120 UberChina 0.04 4 107 596
14

121 Lufax 0.04 3 3,400 288
122 Yello Mobile 0.04 3 1,400 593
123 Beibei 0.03 0 3,067 7,736
124
Adaptive
Biotech
0.03 2 3,867 116
125 TutorGroup 0.03 2 3,400 461
126
China Rapid
Finance
0.03 2 640 44
127 Lazada Group 0.03 2 6,700 93
128 Zhong An 0.02 2 553 238
129 Wiﬁ Master Key 0.02 1 4,733 1,809
130
Intarcia
Therapeutics
0.01 1 3,633 42
131 ContextLogic 0.01 1 1,120 67
132 WePiao 0.01 1 0 29
133 Tujia 0.01 1 1,700 108
134 CureVac 0.01 0 3,867 38
135 VANCL 0.01 0 2,233 5
136 Mia.com 0.01 0 1,500 1
137 Auto1 Group 0.00 0 2,233 2
138 Panshi 0.00 0 773 42
139 Jiuxian 0.00 0 260 162
140 Fanli 0.00 0 730 15
15

141 Trendy Group 0.00 0 227 81
142 Lamabang 0.00 0 317 2
143
Koudai
Shopping
0.00 0 70 0
144 Lakala.com 0.00 0 20 0
145 Aiwujiwu 0.00 0 0 3
16

WHO EXITED?
NO LONGER UNICORNS
(Acquired, Merged or Went Public Since 2015 Ranking)
Company 2015 Rank 2015 Index Exit Date Exit Description
Square 11 14.47 Nov-15 IPO on Nov. 19, 2015
Pure Storage 21 2.04 Oct-15 IPO on Oct. 7, 2015
Legendary Entertainment 41 0.63 Jan-16 Acquired for $3.5 billion by Dalian Wanda Group Co
Dianping 52 0.19 Oct-15
Merged with Meituan, now Meituan-Dianping
(#80 on Q1’16 Unicorn Media Index)
Meituan 54 0.17 Oct-15
Merged with Dianping, now Meituan-Dianping
(#80 on Q1’16 Unicorn Media Index)
Jasper Technologies 70 0.02 Feb-16 Acquired by Cisco for $1.4 billion
StemcentRX 72 0.01 Apr-16 Acquired by AbbVie for $5.8 billion
17

Unicorn Media Index™:
Q1’16 Methodology Notes
June 2016

EARNED MEDIA INDEX™
Key Questions
•  How do brands (or other entities) perform across
earned media relative to peers and competitors?
•  How does performance correlate across news, social
and search channels?
•  What can brands learn from other brands to improve
their earned media performance?
Goals
•  Benchmark earned media performance for my brand,
product or idea, over time and against other entities
•  Understand which channel types best drive earned
media impact for my brand and category
•  Plan future communication strategies, campaigns and
channel mix to optimize performance
Approach
•  Analyze earned media visibility and trajectory across
channels, including relevant data for news, social and
search. Capture channel data monthly and aggregate
it into a composite index for easy comparison over
time and against others.
-  News: Keyword search for number of news citations for
the entity in IT Database, a well-curated online database
of technology, business and vertical news outlets.
-  Social: Keyword search for number of social citations for
the entity name or handle using Sysomos, a broad social
media aggregator that captures social content (Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, forums, videos and images).
-  Search: Average monthly searches for the entity name via
search engines as tracked via Google AdWords, reﬂecting
organic brand search behavior by month.
19

METHODOLOGY NOTES
•  This study applies Big Valley’s Earned Media Index
methodology to analyze media performance, visibility
patterns and channel dynamics for a distinct class of
private companies with $1B+ valuations.
•  We used three primary sources to build our list of
145 unicorns: Dow Jones VentureSource; CB Insights;
and CrunchBase. Our list includes all companies that
appeared on all three lists as of April 2016. Exited
unicorns were not included in this analysis.
•  We then used specialized media analysis tools to
capture monthly News, Social and Search volumes for
each company during Q1’16. In addition, we captured
monthly channel data for calendar year 2015 for the
75 top unicorns based on our previous study.
•  Each brand’s channel score is indexed to 100, based
on the leader for that channel as of January 2015.
Channel scores are then aggregated into a composite
Earned Media Index score to easily compare visibility
and momentum over time.
•  Financial valuations and industry classiﬁcations were
leveraged from Dow Jones VentureSource. Valuation
levels and rankings are based on Apr’16 data.
•  Big Valley analysts conducted this study during April,
May and June 2016.
20

THANK YOU
Tim Marklein – tim@bigvalley.co
Inga Starrett – inga@bigvalley.co
Christine Kerst – christine@bigvalley.co
www.bigvalley.co

Unicorn Media Index Q1'16: Who Ranks Where Across News, Social and Search?

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