CNBC is now accepting nominations for the 2021 CNBC Disruptor 50, our ninth annual list of start-ups and private firms using breakthrough technology to transform industries and build the next generation of great public companies.
The deadline for submissions is Friday, Feb. 12, at 3 pm Eastern time. All independent, privately-owned companies founded after Jan. 1, 2006, are eligible, and any company founder or executive, investor in the company, or any of their communications representatives are welcome to submit the nomination form.
In 2020 more than 1,350 companies from around the world and across every sector of the economy — from agriculture to health care to transportation — submitted applications. The 50 companies that made the final cut proved to be at the center of trends accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic including cybersecurity, telemedicine and food delivery. Disruptors are on the frontlines of transforming industries that have had no choice but to change in the face of the pandemic and its aftermath, and as a result have attracted record-level interest from investors.
Last year’s list has already lived up to the Disruptor 50 mission of identifying the next generation of public companies. Since the 2020 list was released last June, eight of the companies named to the list have gone public, including new household names like Airbnb and DoorDash, a pair of insurance tech disruptors (Lemonade and Root), and enterprise software providers like C3.ai and Snowflake, which raised more money in its debut than any software company ever has. Two others — SoFi and Butterfly Network — have announced plans to become public via mergers with special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), part of a booming new trend.
The wave of IPOs means the competition for the 2021 list is wide open, as only 36 of last year’s 50 are eligible to repeat.
As always, nominees for the 2021 Disruptor 50 will be put through a comprehensive and rigorous process of researching and scoring across a wide range of quantitative and qualitative criteria, including scalability, revenue and user growth, and workforce diversity. An advisory board made up of leading thinkers in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship will provide weighting for the quantitative criteria, while a team of CNBC editorial staff will read submissions and provide qualitative assessments of every single nominee.
Winners will be notified in April, and the list will be released in May across CNBC’s TV and digital platforms. Again, eligible companies can submit their nominations for the 2021 CNBC Disruptor 50 by clicking here.
Source: Business - cnbc.com
