Veterans And Public Companies Dominate

Every year, TrueBridge looks at the top ten companies creating significant value for investors on the Forbes Midas List. While we tend to see new company drivers every year as industry upstarts emerge to spur returns, this year’s list is made up almost entirely of veteran companies, with the exception of newcomers Kuaishou, Roblox, and Nubank.

Notably, the 2022 list only features two private companies – ByteDance and Stripe – which reflects a sharp decrease in private company drivers from prior years. Most of the 2022 drivers went public in the past few years, and those IPOs delivered the most exit value to our top VCs for this year’s List. In a turn of events, a new report from Renaissance Capital shows that March 2022 saw the slowest weeks the IPO market has seen in six years, with 18 companies raising a mere $2.1 billion – 95% less than this time last year. In this changing market, it will be interesting to watch the decisions private companies like ByteDance and Stripe make in the coming months, and how the overall public markets will affect VCs’ portfolios in the next year.

Another recurring theme we saw this year was the dominance of Asian-based companies, with nearly a third of the top drivers hailing from Asia and, in particular, China. Historically, companies from Asia have had a strong showing on the list of top drivers for the Midas List, and this year was no different as industry behemoths like ByteDance, Coupang, and Kuaishou continued to create value for their investors. With China’s tightened regulations on its domestic tech sector over the past year resulting in some investor pullback from the region, it will be interesting to see the extent to which China will continue to be a key source of returns for leading VCs.

Here are the top ten companies that played a key role in securing investors’ spots on the 2022 Midas List.

1. ByteDance

Coming in at #1 is a company that has driven investors’ success for multiple years and is up from #3 on this list in 2021. ByteDance is the parent company of viral video platform TikTok, which has dominated the global market in recent years, particularly among younger generations. ByteDance is currently the world’s largest unicorn with a market valuation of about $360 billion and, despite China’s tightening regulations and US sanctions in 2021, it has maintained consistent and impressive growth.

ByteDance has undergone a major reorganization of its business over the past year, creating six business units and undergoing several executive changes. Founder Zhang Yiming announced his resignation as CEO in May and as Chairman in November, and CFO Shou Zi Chew stepped down in the fall to focus on his role as TikTok CEO. The company also recently disbanded its investment arm and eliminated a global team in its human resources department.

The Wall Street Journal reported in July that, after weighing an initial public offering of all or some of its businesses in the US or Hong Kong, ByteDance decided to put its intentions to list on hold after government officials told the company to focus on addressing data security risks.

Where it counted the most on the 2022 Midas List:*

• Neil Shen | Sequoia China | #3
• Hans Tung | GGV Capital | #6
• Scott Shleifer | Tiger Global | #18
• Marc Stad | Dragoneer Investment Group | #22
• Yi Cao | Source Code Capital | #32
• JP Gan | INCE Capital | #97

2. Airbnb

After grabbing the #1 ranking last year, Airbnb remains high on this year’s list at #2. Though the pandemic initially caused uncertainty for the company, nearly two years later it’s clear that remote work is here to stay and people continue to use Airbnb to work from new locations for days, weeks, or even months at a time.

Airbnb’s fourth quarter and full-year 2021 financial results beat estimates with revenue up 78% year-over-year, which the company largely attributes to millions of people having the choice to live anywhere for the first time ever. Average trip length during the past two years increased by about 15%, with stays of more than seven days now representing nearly half of all gross nights booked. Meanwhile, long-term stays of 28 nights or more continued to be its fastest-growing category.

Airbnb is also receiving praise for its efforts to support refugees through the company’s non-profit, Airbnb.org. It recently announced the decision to offer free, temporary housing for up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine and in September, the company said it planned to provide free, short-term housing to 40,000 Afghan refugees.

Where it counted the most on the 2022 Midas List:*

• Hans Tung | GGV Capital | #6
• Alfred Lin | Sequoia | #7
• Peter Thiel | Founders Fund | #10
• Marc Stad | Dragoneer Investment Group | #22
• Rick Heitzmann | FirstMark | #26
• Mary Meeker | BOND | #29
• Anton Levy | General Atlantic | #33
• Glenn Solomon | GGV Capital | #34
• Reid Hoffman | Greylock | #40
• Jeff Jordan | Andreessen Horowitz | #42
• Matthew Witheiler | Wellington Management | #50
• Saurabh Gupta | DST Global | #53
• Ashvin Bachireddy | SV Angel | #93
• Brad Gerstner | Altimeter Capital | #95

3. Coinbase

Coinbase returns to the top ten drivers as cryptocurrencies continue to gain more widespread acceptance. The company remains the largest cryptocurrency buying, selling, and trading platform with approximately 89 million verified users across more than 100 countries and $547 billion in quarterly trading volume.

Coinbase was the first major cryptocurrency exchange to go public, having posted its shares straight on the Nasdaq stock exchange via a direct listing last April. Since then, the company has continued to grow rapidly with the overall market. According to the company’s 2021 shareholder letter, the total crypto market capitalization at the end of Q4 was $2.3 trillion – up nearly three-fold from approximately $800 billion at the end of 2020 – and hit a peak of $3.1 trillion in November 2021. Bitcoin and Ethereum prices reached new highs that were 247% and 457% higher, respectively, than prior peaks seen in 2017, with Bitcoin itself reaching nearly $1.3 trillion in market capitalization in Q4 2021. Coinbase is well-positioned to take advantage of growth among various cryptocurrencies as this sector continues to remain hot.

Where it counted the most on the 2022 Midas List:*

• Chris Dixon | Andreessen Horowitz | #1
• Micky Malka | Ribbit Capital | #2
• Hans Tung | GGV Capital | #6
• Scott Shleifer | Tiger Global | #18
• Garry Tan | Initialized Capital | #28
• Matthew Witheiler | Wellington Management | #50
• David George | Andreessen Horowitz | #52
• Klaus Hommels | Lakestar | #55
• Barry Schuler | DFJ Growth | #60
• Koichiro Nakamura | Sozo Ventures | #63
• Young Guo | IDG Capital Partners | #69
• Fred Wilson | Union Square Ventures | #73

4. Snowflake

Next on the top ten drivers list is data cloud platform Snowflake, making its second appearance. The data economy continues to grow rapidly and though household names in the space like Amazon, Oracle, Microsoft, and Google dominate the space, Snowflake prides itself on its standalone services, which are often better equipped to meet specific customer needs.

This year, Snowflake’s Chairman and CEO Frank Slootman published a book titled “Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity,” in which he shared for the first time how he led Snowflake through the largest software IPO ever. Snowflake, while not yet generating $1 billion in annual revenue, now has a market cap of $88 billion and is meaningfully disrupting the data-management category. The company recently acquired Streamlit, an open-source app framework for machine learning and data science teams, for $800 million.

Where it counted the most on the 2022 Midas List:*

• Satish Dharmaraj | Redpoint Ventures | #16
• Marc Stad | Dragoneer Investment Group | #22
• Mike Speiser | Sutter Hill Ventures | #35
• Peter Wagner | Wing Ventures | #51
• John Curtius | Tiger Global | #64
• Carl Eschenbach | Sequoia | #76
• Pat Grady | Sequoia | #85
• Brad Gerstner | Altimeter Capital | #95

5. DoorDash

Food delivery giant and on-demand local logistics platform DoorDash is halfway through our list of companies driving returns in 2021. It is no secret that the app-based food delivery industry has taken off in recent years, and the pandemic only increased demand for these services as regions went through waves of intense lockdowns and customers attempted to limit human contact and simplify lifestyles in the midst of working remotely.

In its fourth quarter 2021 earnings results, DoorDash showed that a record number of people – 369 million – placed orders, an increase of 35% year-over-year and higher than expectations. Despite the disappearance of stay-at-home orders and the pandemic moving into an endemic phase, DoorDash’s full-year guidance suggested that it doesn’t expect to see momentum slow.

DoorDash recently acquired Finnish start-up Wolt in an $8 billion all-stock takeover and, over the past year, has announced a series of partnerships to move beyond food and grocery deliveries, including with Vault Health and Everlywell to facilitate same-day delivery of COVID-19 PCR test collection kits, Beyond Meat for grilling kits, and Rite Aid, PetSmart, Ulta Beauty, and Bed Bath & Beyond for other verticals.

Where it counted the most on the 2022 Midas List:*

• Alfred Lin | Sequoia | #7
• Keith Rabois | Founders Fund | #8
• Pejman Nozad | Pear VC | #15
• Marc Stad | Dragoneer Investment Group | #22
• Mar Hershenson | Pear VC | #30
• Rahul Mehta| DST Global | #38
• Saar Gur | CRV | #48
• Vinod Khosla| Khosla Ventures | #67

6. Kuaishou

Making its top ten Midas List drivers debut at #6 is Chinese TikTok rival Kuaishou. The company was founded in 2011 and started out as a mobile app called GIF Kuaishou, which, as its name illustrates, allowed users to create GIFs. It later launched its short video and social media platform, followed by live streaming in 2016.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that China is planning new curbs on the country’s $30 billion live streaming industry, renewing a regulatory campaign aimed at reining in technology companies and exerting greater influence over the content consumed by younger generations. Like many peers at other Chinese tech giants that have made leadership changes amid this regulatory crackdown, Kuaishou announced in October that its chief executive and co-founder Su Hua had stepped back from day-to-day operations.

Despite the regulatory uncertainty, Kuaishou’s new CEO Cheng Yixiao told analysts on a recent conference call that it expects to become profitable sometime this year, having reported a sales increase of 35% in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Where it counted the most on the 2022 Midas List:*

• Neil Shen | Sequoia China | #3
• Fisher Zhang | 5Y Capital | #19
• Hurst Lin | DCM | #46
• Elwin Yuan | 5Y Capital | #78

7. Coupang

Number seven on the top ten list of company drivers is South Korean end-to-end ecommerce and logistics company Coupang. The company listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in March 2021 with an initial valuation of $60 billion, and its closing share price made it one of the largest IPOs of last year.

Coupang prides itself on its shipping speeds and competes with other delivery giants such as Amazon. Currently, the company accounts for about 20% of South Korea’s online market share. Coupang offers same-day delivery capabilities for select items, guaranteed next-day delivery for orders placed before midnight, and boxless packaging, eliminating unnecessary waste of cardboard boxes, plastic and paper envelopes, and other non-sustainable shipping materials.

According to Coupang’s fourth quarter 2021 financial results, the company achieved $5.1 billion in revenue for the quarter, representing 34% year-over-year growth, and $806 million in gross profit, representing 242% growth over the fourth quarter of 2020. Coupang prioritizes the customer and works to provide the best possible experience – the company has launched several complementary products and platforms over the years focused on those goals including Coupang Pay, Coupang Eats, Rocket Delivery, Rocket Fresh, and Rocket WOW membership.

Where it counted the most on the 2022 Midas List:*

• Neil Mehta | Greenoaks | #9
• David Frankel | Founder Collective | #11
• Matthew Witheiler | Wellington Management | #50
• Ben Sun | Primary Venture Partners | #65
• Avi Eyal | Entrée Capital | #66

8. Stripe

Payment processor Stripe stands as one of the last returning private companies to make the top ten driver list. The company’s $600 million funding round in March 2021 boosted its valuation to $95 billion and it has not had a publicly announced funding round since. Stripe’s co-founders John and Patrick Collison have repeatedly waved off rumors of an IPO, but that hasn’t stopped it from being one of the most anticipated listings in years. In September, Bloomberg reported that Stripe was in early discussions with investment banks about going public as soon as next year, though there have been no new IPO-related developments reported.

The Irish American payment processor has secured many interesting partnerships in the past several months, including with Spotify to help podcasters accept payments, launch recurring revenue streams, and deepen their connection with fans; with Ford to scale its e-commerce capabilities faster; and with Klarna to help online businesses grow their revenue. Stripe also recently acquired OpenChannel, a leading provider of app marketplace software, and Recko, a leading provider of payments reconciliation software for internet businesses.

Where it counted the most on the 2022 Midas List:*

• Chris Dixon | Andreessen Horowitz | #1
• Neil Mehta | Greenoaks | #9
• Peter Thiel | Founders Fund | #10
• Scott Shleifer | Tiger Global | #18
• Hemant Taneja | General Catalyst | #23
• Mary Meeker | BOND | #29
• Tom Stafford | DST Global | #31
• Scott Raney | Redpoint Ventures | #39
• Brian Singerman | Founders Fund | #43
• Matthew Witheiler | Wellington Management | #50
• Avi Eyal | Entrée Capital | #66
• Vinod Khosla| Khosla Ventures | #67
• Michael Moritz | Sequoia | #70

9. Roblox

The gaming world is hot, and California-based Roblox is leading the charge, making its first appearance on the overall top drivers list. The company listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in March 2021 with a valuation of $45.3 billion.

Roblox experienced explosive growth amid the pandemic due to kids staying at home and online as schools and sports leagues shut down. Its fourth quarter 2021 earnings results showed that even though users have largely reverted to pre-pandemic routines, Roblox continues to grow its user base with more than 49 million people playing the game each day, up 33% from last year.

Roblox falls under the increasingly popular metaverse category, which refers to a convergence of physical, augmented, and virtual reality in a shared online space. Facebook made waves in October when it announced that it changed its company name to Meta to reflect its growing ambitions in the space. In February, the National Football League announced the launch of NFL Tycoon to engage the next generation of NFL football fans in the metaverse, making it the first official major sports league to offer a persistent experience on Roblox – and showing just how much of a household staple Roblox has become for many.

Where it counted the most on the 2022 Midas List:*

• Scott Shleifer | Tiger Global | #18
• David George | Andreessen Horowitz | #52

10. Nubank

Another one of the few newcomers on this year’s list is Brazilian fintech company, Nubank. The company listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in December with a valuation of $41.5 billion in one of 2021’s largest IPOs.

Nubank is the leading financial technology company in Latin America and the largest independent neobank in the world with more than 20 million clients. Its first product, launched in 2014, is a no-fee credit card that is fully managed by a mobile app and used by more than 12 million customers. The company is famously backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which made a $500 million investment into the parent company of Nubank earlier in 2021.

Where it counted the most on the 2022 Midas List:*

• Micky Malka | Ribbit Capital | #2
• Doug Leone | Sequoia | #20
• Marc Stad | Dragoneer Investment Group | #22
• Nicolas Szekasy | Kaszek | #25
• Tom Stafford | DST Global | #31
• Frank Rotman | QED Investors | #45
• Elliot Geidt | Redpoint Ventures | #57

*Does not include all investors in the company.