In our post from last week, we promised more info on big corporate changes in the Silicon Valley, brought to you as a result of the timeliest ever Lonergan SV 150 – our annual ranking of the top public tech companies headquartered within fifty miles of the old HP Garage.
The final rankings will be available for download on our website in the next week. In the meantime, here are some more up-to-the-minute observations I think you’ll be interested in.
Leaving the Silicon Valley was Popular
Seven companies on last year’s Lonergan SV150 ranking moved headquarters out of California in time for this year’s publication. Movement away from Silicon Valley in significant numbers is an unprecedented trend.
Which companies from last year’s list have moved?
| Last Year’s Rank | Company (New headquarters) | 2020 Revenues ($ million adjusted to quarter closest to calendar year end) | Market cap (March 31, 2021) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Oracle (Austin, TX) | $39,402 | $203.4 b |
| 8 | HPE (Houston, TX) | $26,866 | $20.5 b |
| 46 | Avaya (Durham, NC) | $2,901 | $2.3 b |
| 50 | Align (Tempe, AZ) | $2,472 | $41.5 b |
| 70 | Viavi (Scottsdale, AZ) | $1,107 | $3.6 b |
| 129 | Natera (Austin, TX) | $391 | $8.8 b |
| 136 | Aviat (Austin, TX) | $261 | $0.4 b |
Palantir got the jump on this trend – its recent move to Denver meant it never made the Lonergan SV150 rankings at all. If it had stayed in Palo Alto for its September direct listing, it would have been ranked LSV#79.
Some other companies with rumors about pending departures are Tesla (LSV#8), based on remarks by Elon Musk; and Dropbox (LSV #58) and Splunk (LSV#51), with rumors of their moves inspired by their CEOs’ reported plans to move their residences to Austin, Texas. No idea if these headquarters moves will actually happen, or if some other companies may be planning to move as well.
But Going Public was Popular Too
After a long pandemic-related pause in accessing public markets starting in March of 2020, the last half of the year saw an explosion of public trading enthusiasm for Silicon Valley based companies, including long awaited IPOs such as Airbnb (LSV#39). For the first time, ranked companies also accessed public markets as a result of direct listing (Asana LSV#141) and SPAC merger (Opendoor LSV#50) as well.
All twelve new public companies are listed below:
| Rank | Company (year public) IPO unless noted | Business Description | 2020 Sales ($ million) | Growth | Profitability | Mkt Cap (March 31, 2021) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 | Airbnb (2020) | Online marketplace for temporary lodging | $3,378 | -30% | -136% | $114.3 b |
| 45 | McAfee (2020) | Security software | $2,906 | 10% | -10% | $9.8 b |
| 46 | Doordash (2020) | Online Food delivery platform | $2,886 | 226% | -16% | $42.2 b |
| 50 | Opendoor (2020 SPAC merger) | Online home selling service | $2,583 | -46% | -11% | $11.8 b |
| 52 | Wish (2020) | Online e‑commerce platform | $2,541 | 34% | -29% | $9.8 b |
| 96 | Unity (2020) | Video game software | $772 | 43% | -37% | $27.9 b |
| 101 | Affirm (2021) | Online shopping installment loan platform | $670 | 31% | -15% | $18.2 b |
| 104 | Snowflake (2020) | Cloud data warehousing | $592 | 124% | -91% | $50.5 b |
| 138 | Poshmark (2021) | Online fashion marketplace | $262 | 28% | 6% | $2.9 b |
| 141 | Asana (2020 direct listing) | Project management software | $227 | 59% | -93% | $4.6 b |
| 145 | Sumo Logic (2020) | Real-time data analytics service | $203 | 31% | -40% | $2.0 b |
| 149 | C3.ai (2020) | AI software platform | $173 | 10% | -36% | $6.7 b |
Note: the public debut cutoff date for the Lonergan SV150 ranking was January 31, 2021.
One thing is for certain, change is a constant for Silicon Valley, and 2020 saw just how resourceful and paradigm-changing the companies of the LSV150 can be. In our next blog post, we will be looking at some of the leadership trends at work in the Silicon Valley. Please come back to see more insights on our blog the week of April 19, 2020.
Update: It’s here! The 2021 Lonergan Silicon Valley 150 ranking has been published. Download it here and read our insights and analysis.