Summary Extending its battery technology from cars to residential and commercial applications.

$5 billion Projected investment required to build its battery “gigafactory” in Nevada

Summary Fast-growing smartphone vendor is maturing beyond its original “cut-price Apple” model with ideas like flash sales over its mobile messaging platform.

$45 billion Most recent valuation for the private company

Summary Shifting its fast DNA-reading machines from research applications primarily to hospitals and cancer clinics.

90 percent Proportion of all DNA data estimated to be produced on its machines

Summary The world’s largest online retailer, it conducts more than half its daily transactions through its Alipay digital wallet/banking service.

$25 billion Amount raised in its record-setting IPO

Summary Its cheap DNA tests help would-be parents plan ahead. Now it sells cancer screens.

3.6 percent Proportion of U.S. couples that use its tests before trying to conceive

Summary Aggressively expanding its renewable energy products and building a business to provide electricity to the developing world.

1.1 billion number of people worldwide who don’t have access to electricity

Summary China’s most-used Internet service portal is expanding by investing in companies inside and outside its home market.

549 million Active monthly users on WeChat and its related Weixin service

Summary Testing cancer treatments that use a person’s own immune cells.

$304 million Amount it raised in the largest biotech IPO of 2014

Summary The factory it is planning to build in Buffalo will be the Western Hemisphere’s largest manufacturer of silicon solar panels, the company says.

177,000 Number of U.S. customers who lease SolarCity’s rooftop solar panels

Summary It’s producing innovative original content and inking distribution deals with cable companies.

31 Number of Emmy nominations for its original programming in 2014

Summary The first baby conceived with the help of its stem-cell treatment has been born.

$25,000 Maximum amount it charges IVF clinics for the treatment

Summary Its Loon balloons are designed to broaden Internet access.

Summary Robots now used in its fulfillment centers could make the facilities far more efficient.

$89 billion 2014 sales

Summary Maker of a heart monitor that connects to an iPhone and automatically detects irregular heartbeats.

2 million Number of ECG readings on its devices so far

Summary Began selling the first pill that can cure most cases of hepatitis C.

$3.6 billion
Sales of the drug in the first three months of 2015

Summary Its new smart watch and its Apple Pay digital wallet set the pace for competitors.

1 million Number of Apple Watches ordered the day they went on sale, according to outside estimates

Summary Having created what it calls the world’s first 3-D electronics printer, the startup is commercializing promising new materials like conductive ink.

5,000 Factor by which its inks improve conductivity, according to the company

Summary Offering more affordable water desalination at a scale never before achieved.

300,000 Number of people to be served by the plant it is building with partners in Carlsbad, California

Summary Its Icelandic gene database is yielding ­clues that help it decide which drugs to develop.

10,000 Number of sequenced genomes in the database

Summary Has gained customers for its novel batteries, which can store surplus wind and solar energy.

$129 million Money raised from Aquion’s investors

Summary The Chinese Internet company’s new deep-learning research lab has produced notable results in facial and speech recognition.

70 percent Increase in 2014 research spending, to $1.125 billion

Summary The rocket company has made progress on the technical challenge of landing and reusing unmanned rockets.

9 Number of missions completed in the last year

Summary Uses new materials and manufacturing techniques to make solid-state batteries that store twice as much energy as rival lithium-ion technologies.

$15 million Size of recent investment by appliance maker Dyson (General Motors is also a backer)

Summary Pioneering technology to be used in advanced computer vision systems for cars.

$12 billion Freescale’s value in a proposed acquisition by a Dutch semiconductor maker

Summary Its user-friendly, relatively cheap robots have found a strong market. In May, Teradyne agreed to buy the company for $285 million.

70 percent Increase in revenue from 2013 to 2014

Summary Took a lead in cancer immunotherapy with Opdivo, a life-saving drug for skin and lung cancer.

$12,500 monthly cost of the drug

Summary Though some doctors’ organizations oppose the idea of remote medicine and are trying to limit the practice, this fast-growing telemedicine company is nearing an IPO.

10 million Number of U.S. members in its remote-consultation service

Summary Its chips are crucial for cutting-edge technologies like deep learning and driverless cars.

7,000 Number of patents it holds

Summary Big ad revenue is being invested in improvements to apps like Messenger and in its new agreement to directly host work by leading news organizations.

1.44 billion Number of monthly active users worldwide in the first quarter of 2015

Summary It is turning around the prospects for RNA interference, a promising type of gene therapy that has been challenging to use.

6 Number of the company’s drugs in human testing

Summary Although sales have been soft for its easy-to-train Baxter robot, the company’s newest model, Sawyer, is impressively precise and fast.

$114 million Funding raised

Summary The giant of LED lighting has made the efficient technology even more affordable.

$5 Retail price of two bulbs that will last for a decade

Summary Its Calyxt division uses quick gene editing to create crops that might not need regulation as GMOs.

1 year Time it took to create a genetically engineered potato that should be healthier to eat when fried

Summary Its gene therapies may cure, not just treat, diseases like sickle-cell anemia.

9 Number of patients treated so far in studies

Summary Reinvented the elevator with magnetic levitation technology, resulting in a system that can transport more people and move horizontally.

6.4 billion euros Company’s global elevator sales in 2014

Summary Its workplace communications app is taking off.

300 million Number of messages sent via Slack each month

Summary The Japanese company runs a hugely popular messaging and free calling app that actually generates revenue.

205 million Number of monthly active users

Summary Using computer science to simulate richer virtual worlds, with applications in gaming and virtual reality.

$20 million Improbable’s funding from Andreessen Horowitz this year

Summary Its deep-learning technology automatically spots tumors in medical scans.

$1.7 billion Total estimated value of the market for medical image analysis software

Summary Helps companies including PayPal, Dell, and Expedia take Bitcoin payments without having to hold onto the cryptocurrency.

2.9 million Number of Bitcoin accounts registered with Coinbase

Summary Its popular travel planning apps in Europe combine information on taxis, car rental, bike sharing, and public transportation systems.

40 million Number of journeys planned on its system every day

Summary Moving to dominate the commercialization of 3-D printing by developing a super-fast assembly line.

50 Factor by which 3D Systems hopes to increase the speed of 3-D printing

Summary This Italian-based insurer will use fitness data from wearables, as well as other health data, to calculate insurance rates for customers who choose to participate.

60 Number of countries in which the company operates

Summary Developing synthetic biology in multiple fields for health, energy, consumer, and environmental applications.

$41 million Amount paid to acquire the maker of a patented transgenic apple

Summary Helping researchers and drug companies move genetic data into Amazon’s cloud.

56,000 Number of computer processors the company uses to analyze DNA

Summary Novel research into artificial intelligence could help the company in its long-term plan to make big data more useful.

14 Number of hospitals in North America that have signed up to use the Watson AI system to guide cancer therapy

Summary Innovative new formats include “Snapchat Stories,” which put videos and photos together to tell a story, and a platform for media organizations that is used by ESPN, CNN, and others.

1 billion Number of Snapchat Stories viewed per day

Summary Its HoloLens augmented-reality technology reflects the new CEO’s turnaround ambitions.

Summary Developing ultrathin, flexible, rechargeable batteries that can be printed cheaply on commonly used industrial screen printers.

Summary It’s testing ideas like ride-share services and driver deliveries.

162,037 Number of active Uber drivers as of December 2014