Everyone in tech needs to relax for a minute.
The Big Five - Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft - aren't killing everybody and squashing all innovation. And not every start-up that scores venture funding from a prominent Silicon Valley firm turns out like Juicero or Theranos.
Start-ups still have a chance to go big if they operate honestly, and build their products and services around new technologies that the incumbents still haven't mastered.
These fields, and companies that exploit these technologies, are just starting to reshape our world. They also have the chance to raise growth capital from more firms and to raise bigger rounds than ever before thanks to the presence of huge new entrants like Softbank Vision Fund which intends to pump $100 billion into startups over the next several years.
Here are 29 tech start-ups we expect to draw massive (over $50 million) rounds in the next two years to challenge the giants - or at least get snapped up by them for hefty sums. To create and vet this list, CNBC.com interviewed multiple angel investors, limited partners who invest in venture firms, and senior investment partners with funds in San Francisco, Boston and New York. The firms represented a mix of early-stage, growth and corporate VC's.
May their products live long after the acquisition.
We left many promising start-ups out of this list, either because they're not likely to raise a large funding round soon, have already done so, or are not working with emerging technologies, primarily.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/14/silicon-valley-most-innovative-early-stage-start-ups.html