MOST INNOVATIVE
COMPANIES 2017
5.Snap
Founded in 2012 by two Stanford students,
Snap is the Los Angeles-based technology and social media company behind
messaging app Snapchat. Probably the social network that best illustrates the
divide between millennials and the Gen-Xers who preceded them, Snapchat’s photo
and video messages disappear after they are viewed. The app's focus on fun
features like stickers, drawing tools, and augmented-reality filters has helped
Snapchat grow to more than 150 million daily users and become a hot advertising
platform, with a projected 2017 ad revenue of over $935 million. No wonder
competitors like Instagram have begun borrowing some of Snapchat's best
features, like the daily photo and video collections called Stories.
In September 2016, Snap unveiled Spectacles,
a pair of playful smart eyeglasses that allow wearers to capture short videos
that can be shared via the Snapchat app. Although companies like Alphabet
(formerly Google) have tried to sustain buzz about previous smart glasses,
Spectacles so far has had one of the most impressive product debuts in the
category, thanks to a surprise launch and an innovative strategy of selling the
glasses through pop-up vending machines, randomly placed throughout the U.S.
In 2014, the company started aligning itself
with music events: a natural fit for some of Snapchat's most popular features.
Live Stories, which allow users at the same event or location share Snaps to
the same feed (called Our Story), are the perfect conduit for live music events
sharing. More people watched Snapchat stories from the 2015 MTV Video Music
Awards than watched the event itself on cable.
Snapchat Discover, launched in early 2015,
created a new type of “front page” for news and entertainment outlets. Users
turn to it to view short-form, video-driven content from brands like ESPN, BuzzFeed, and Cosmopolitan.
Discover has become a way for legacy media brands to reach a younger audience
in a totally new way.
DATA
COMPETITION
PEOPLE
Evan Spiegel
VALUATION
$25 billion
PROFITABLE
No
STAFF
1,859
USERS
158 million daily users
HEADQUARTERS
Los Angeles, CA
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