When you think back on the breakout startups of 2018, you think scooters.
Bird ($415M raised) turned one in September, announced 10 million rides taken and is reportedly worth north of $2B. Lime announced it surpassed 11.5 million rides last fall, and is expected to take in $400M in a new round this year (also valuing the company at about $2B). In November, Ford bought scooter company Spin for around $100 million.
But what's in store for 2019? Some predictions for breakout companies this year:
Notion is a powerful note-taking app that does it all when it comes to productivity (think the best features of Dropbox, Excel and Google Docs). 🗒
“Notion has done a great job of building a cult-like following by over delivering on the product side. I'm really excited to see what they do this year and beyond.” - Chika
Netlify ($44.1M raised) makes it super easy to deploy websites — and is definitely another one to watch. 🙌
“The fact that anyone can spin up a web app (with serverless functions and authentication) in minutes is super powerful. Plus they recently raised quite a bit of money. If they could make data storage as simple as they've made everything else, they'd be 💯” - Parker
Niantic Labs is the studio behind Pokémon GO. In 2018 the company rekindled its first game, Ingress. But we're all waiting with bated breath for their highly anticipated Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. 🧙
“I would bet on big comebacks from MagicLeap and NianticLabs. 'Harry Potter Go' will definitely be a hit.” - Benjamin
Lambda School ($48.1M raised) is a coding bootcamp that you pay for with a cut of your future salary — and it's already made some noise in 2019. Earlier this month, the company announced a $30M round, and said it plans to train 3,000 students this year. 🎓
This company is also up to something. 😉
What other startups should you keep an eye on in 2019? See what else the community had to say. 👀
If you want to add your own predictions, tell us here. 🔮
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