50 Smartest Companies 2015
Massive solar panel factories. Fertility treatments. Friendly robots. Meet the companies reshaping the technology business.
Learn More
-
Why
Extending its battery technology from cars to residential and commercial applications.
$5 billion
Projected investment required to build its battery “gigafactory” in Nevada
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
Testing cancer treatments that use a person’s own immune cells.
$304 million
Amount it raised in the largest biotech IPO of 2014
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
It’s producing innovative original content and inking distribution deals with cable companies.
31
Number of Emmy nominations for its original programming in 2014
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
Robots now used in its fulfillment centers could make the facilities far more efficient.
$89 billion
2014 sales
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
Began selling the first pill that can cure most cases of hepatitis C.
$3.6 billion
Company Details
Sales of the drug in the first three months of 2015 -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
Its Icelandic gene database is yielding clues that help it decide which drugs to develop.
10,000
Number of sequenced genomes in the database
Company Details -
Why
Has gained customers for its novel batteries, which can store surplus wind and solar energy.
$129 million
Money raised from Aquion’s investors
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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)
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
Took a lead in cancer immunotherapy with Opdivo, a life-saving drug for skin and lung cancer.
$12,500
monthly cost of the drug
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
Its chips are crucial for cutting-edge technologies like deep learning and driverless cars.
7,000
Number of patents it holds
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
Its gene therapies may cure, not just treat, diseases like sickle-cell anemia.
9
Number of patients treated so far in studies
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
Its workplace communications app is taking off.
300 million
Number of messages sent via Slack each month
Company Details -
Why
The Japanese company runs a hugely popular messaging and free calling app that actually generates revenue.
205 million
Number of monthly active users
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
Its deep-learning technology automatically spots tumors in medical scans.
$1.7 billion
Total estimated value of the market for medical image analysis software
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
Helping researchers and drug companies move genetic data into Amazon’s cloud.
56,000
Number of computer processors the company uses to analyze DNA
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
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
Company Details -
Why
Its HoloLens augmented-reality technology reflects the new CEO’s turnaround ambitions.
Company Details -
Why
Developing ultrathin, flexible, rechargeable batteries that can be printed cheaply on commonly used industrial screen printers.
Company Details -
Why
It’s testing ideas like ride-share services and driver deliveries.
162,037
Number of active Uber drivers as of December 2014
Company Details