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There's no shortage of hot startups.
To stand out, startup CEOs are getting creative by launching innovative products and raising tons of money — and they've got the world talking.
We've found the CEOs of some of the hottest startups in the US. We picked the CEOs by buzz, accounting for things like how much money their company raised and how much they've been in the news.
For the purpose of this list, we defined a startup as a private tech company. We included only US-based startups that have taken venture-capital funding and have not yet IPO'd or been acquired.
Did we miss a buzzy startup CEO? Let us know in the comments.
Lauren Browning contributed to an earlier version of this story.
Payal Kadakia
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Company: ClassPass
ClassPass CEO Payal Kadakia was working on her startup Classtivity, a precursor to ClassPass, in a Starbucks in Astor Place when she was maced and mugged. She says the incident made her want to be better at protecting herself, and in turn, the incident "motivated me to perfect my business."
Gym rats love ClassPass, a service that lets users take unlimited classes (up to three per location) at boutique fitness studios for a flat fee every month. Not only does the ClassPass give users a steep discount on pricey classes like Pure Barre, but it allows them to try a multitude of things, from spin to hot yoga to Pilates.
Investors are pretty keen on ClassPass as well. The startup is valued at about $400 million, and raised $40 million in January in a series B round of funding led by General Catalyst Partners and Thrive Capital.
Matt Salzberg
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Company: Blue Apron
Blue Apron, a company that makes cooking easy by delivering perfectly proportioned ingredients and recipes straight to your door, isn’t just a godsend for lazy cooks — it’s also worth $2 billion. Following a series D round of funding to the tune of $135 million in June, the startup announced its $2 billion valuation, making it one of tech’s growing number of unicorns: privately held companies with valuations of $1 billion or more.
Though it’s only been around since 2012, Blue Apron is already selling more than 3 million meals each month, CEO Matt Salzberg told Business Insider earlier this year. The startup has more than tripled in size since January, and reports hundreds of thousands of customers. Blue Apron’s potential is vast: The service appeals to millennials who want to expand their repertoire in the kitchen as much as busy moms straining for creativity and simplicity in their weeknight meals.
Marc Lore
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Company: Jet.com
E-commerce startup Jet wants to be the next Amazon. The company raised $220 million through three rounds of funding before it even launched, giving it a $600 valuation. It also hit over $1 million in sales on its first day when it launched in July, setting the tone for a successful year. It was the No. 4 marketplace in terms of sales just a month after launching, beating out Sears and Best Buy.
The company promises to offer prices up to 15% lower than anywhere else on the web, and developed an exclusive technology that adjusts prices in real time based on what users put in their carts.
In October, Jet changed its business model and dropped its $50 membrship fee it once proposed would be its sole source of profit. Lore previously said Jet doesn't plan to reach scale or profitability until 2020, when the company projects to have 15 million paying customers and $20 billion in sales.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider