Uber at $51bn is the most valuable tech startup in the world

According to a recent report by Business Insider, the Taxi hailing company, Uber, is the most valuable startup in the world. Currently valued at $51 billion, the company connects its users with drivers of private vehicles under contract with Uber.

Founded by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp in 2009, Uber develops, markets and operates the Uber mobile app, which allows consumers with smartphones to submit a trip request which is then routed to Uber drivers who use their own cars. By May 28, 2015, the service was available in 58 countries and 300 cities worldwide

Notable investors in the company include Benchmark Capital, Menlo Ventures, Google Ventures, KPCB.

Number 2 is Xiaomi at $46 billion

In the second position and valued at $46 billion is Chinese electronics company, Xiaomi. It is the 4th largest smartphone maker in the world. Xiaomi has been able to compete with the likes of Samsung and Apple because of its low cost strategy. It does not own a single physical store and instead sells exclusively from its own online store. It also did away with traditional advertising and relies on social networking services as well as its own customers to help advertise its products.

Xiaomi was co-founded by eight partners on April 6, 2010 and it currently has notable investors like Digital Sky Technologies, Hopu Investment Management Company, DST Global, IDG Capital Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Morningside Group

Number 3 is Airbnb at $25.5 billion

Airbnb offers a marketplace for people to rent out their homes to temporary residents. It is available in 190 countries and has over 1,500,000 listings

It was founded in August 2008 and has the folliwng as notbAndreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners

Other startups and their valuation are as follows:

4. Palantir at $20 billion. Palantir is a software and services company that specializes in data analysis.

5 (tie) Snapchat and Didi Kuaidi at $16billion. Snapchat is a photo-messaging app allows users to send photos and videos that automatically disappear after a set period of time while Didi Kuaidi, Like Lyft and Uber, it lets users hail a ride from their phone.

7 Flipkart at $15 billion. Flipkart is an e-commerce site specializing in electronics and content like books and music.

8 SpaceX at $12 billion. Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, designs, builds, and launches vehicles for space exploration.

9 Pinterest at $11billion. Pinterest allows users to share/store stuff online by “pinning” images and content.

10  WeWork and Dropbox at $10 billion. WeWork rents out co-working spaces to individuals and companies. while Dropbox allows users to easily store and share files on the web.