Demanded startups. The best startups in Russia and around the world

Ideas for startups: the "freshest" ideas from all over the world - 3 keys to success + TOP-5 ideas from around the world + 3 startup ideas from Russian developers.

Why startup ideas are gaining more and more popularity in the business sphere and bring the owners whole capital?

First of all, because they offer absolutely new, innovative solutions to people's pressing problems.

Therefore, it is quite logical that in search of inspiration for creating your own startup, you should not rush “deep into history”.

Follow the trends, fashion trends, what is actually in demand now.

This article will help you with this, which has brought together the main business trends and forecasts regarding future discoveries in the entrepreneurial “art” market.

What is a startup?

Before talking about startup ideas, it is worth defining what is generally meant.

Most have only a general idea of ​​startups. Therefore, someone believes that this is how they call new resources on the Internet, others - that this is a business created by young people with no experience.

There is some truth in this. However, the concept itself is broader.

Startup- This is a business idea that is based solely on the use of innovative technologies or the introduction of completely new products.

That is, the composition of the team and the format of the company does not matter (often startups begin to develop without being officially registered).

The main thing is for the team to help solve some problem of humanity by offering something unique.

Also, the distinctive features of a startup are:

  • limited money to start;
  • starting work from scratch;
  • most often, partners in a startup were previously connected by some kind of relationship (worked together, studied).

And although the world learns about such companies even at its first steps, when the market position is not yet strong, only those companies that have already manufactured a product can be called startups.

An operating time or a “raw” project is only the basis for creation, but not the startup itself.

What is the key to the success of a startup idea?


If we analyze the ideas behind the startup that have been especially successful, we can identify several common features.

Conventionally, they can be called "secrets of success."

Factors that determine the success of a startup idea:

    What exactly do you think about the idea that became a startup?

    Do you think that it can bring a lot of money?

    Or do you really “burn” and are sure that this business will be useful to people and become innovative?

    Only in the second case, the startup really has a chance of success.

    If you do not have a sincere interest, you can quickly "burn out."

    Moreover, startups rarely bring instant profit.

    A lot depends on the team.

    Obviously, a team of like-minded people working on the same wavelength can do more than one person.

    Don't try to put everything on your own shoulders.

    You should not calculate how many people will have to share the profit, but take care of perfect quality completing every detail.

    Youth is a plus.

    Let this statement sound like a discredit.

    But the fact remains that investors are more focused on investing in the young and ambitious.

    Let people with experience go about their business - run large organizations and share knowledge with others.

For those who no longer consider themselves a "young man", but are on fire, let's clarify: success in business has no age restrictions.

Doubt? Look at this picture:

TOP-5: global startup ideas

As a rule, startups are concentrated in the field of IT technologies. We decided to create a selection of ideas that ordinary people created and brought to life.

Such a step is intended to inspire you to implement your own ideas, even if you do not have special education or many years of work experience.

1. Green idea: special shampoo


"Nephentes" looks like an enema or something.

In fact, this startup idea can significantly affect the preservation of the environment.

Few people think, but ordinary plastic bottles from under the "" is a product that is harmful to the environment. The period of decomposition of one bottle can be hundreds of years!

And remember how much you use them during your life?

According to the idea of ​​this startup, manufacturers make products in huge containers, pouring the right portions into buyers' Nephentes bottles.

It is curious that the design does not even involve the use of a cover! The neck is simply bent and inserted into the compartment.

Another plus: you can finally use the product at 100%, including what usually remains at the bottom.

2. Indian startup idea




If you think that in India they can only dance and make films, then you will be surprised - not so few ideas for startups have been created in this country.

Interestingly, there is even a kind of analogue of the American Silicon Valley.

In addition, in India they are really interested in the issue of a huge amount of garbage on the streets. Innovative ideas appear regularly.

For example, an edible spoon is a great alternative to plastic utensils. After a meal, it can be eaten as a dessert or, of course, just thrown away.

Obviously, such a “material” as flour decomposes as quickly as possible and is absolutely harmless to nature.

The creators also assure that the product can be safely eaten by vegetarians. And in the future, even the development of a gluten-free version is planned.

3. An idea for junk food lovers




Which of us is not familiar with such a misfortune: you carefully take chips or something else greasy, and your fingers get dirty so that you have to go wash them.

And you need to be extremely careful not to hook or stain anything!

A startup has appeared in Italy, the idea of ​​​​which is to create fingertips. They are very thin, but at the same time the latex tightly fits the fingers.

Thanks to this, consumers can safely feast on goodies, and then simply throw away the “nozzles”.

It is assumed that these devices will not be sold on their own, but complete with chips, nuts or similar food, for which they were invented.

4. Startup: "folding" napkins



But the idea of ​​this startup is already designed for higher cuisine - that is, for restaurants. It appeared as a reaction to the fact that ordinary napkin holders are already becoming obsolete.

But napkins pressed into a small round “washer” are another matter. To use such a thing, visitors must dip the "pill" into an antiseptic solution.

And then the fabric unfolds, acquires a pleasant smell, and even becomes a “killing tool” for harmful microbes on your hands.

You should not immediately estimate the increased costs for the owners: these towels are not disposable. So the idea of ​​a startup will not harm either the wallet or the environment.

5. Startup idea with social value




Often, startups are called upon to solve global problems and not just improve the already comfortable life of consumers.

For example, in Denmark, a special supermarket was created - "WeFood". Its concept is that they sell goods here that cannot be put on the shelves of "decent" ones.

Mislabeling, torn packaging, an approaching expiration date or a delay in general - all these are usually reasons for writing off, returning or even recycling goods.

Meanwhile, even in Denmark there are many people who have to save on everything.

The idea of ​​the supermarket has not only helped low-income people to eat more nutritious food. There was also a 25% reduction in wasted food across the country!

Here is such a useful and, oddly enough, profitable startup.

And what about Russia: 3 domestic ideas for startups


Although the words “economic decline conditions” have already become classic texts for the realities of Russian entrepreneurship, everything is not so bad in the field of start-ups.

The “buy-sell” orientation is gradually giving way to an innovative approach.

Original solutions still do not have such strong state support as in other countries.

However, their number is increasing, and investors are ready to invest their money. This is especially evident in the variety of ideas for a startup in 2016.

1) A startup you've definitely heard of


Have you seen the original photo processing on Instagram, which turns an ordinary frame into an artistic canvas? Most likely, you already know what we are talking about.

For the rest, let's clarify - the Prisma application is a service that allows you to process users' photos in an original way.

For many, it will come as a surprise that it was Russian programmers who developed Prism. Moreover, its creator is a former employee of the well-known mail.ru.

The peculiarity of the program is that it does not just impose some filters on top of the card.

Through the use of neural network algorithms (of which you may have heard a lot too), Prism analyzes the frame and then creates it from scratch. But already in the form of a picture.

The fact that almost everyone knows about this application now is already an indicator of success. It remains to be added that the Facebook administration banned the use of the program on its network only because it considered it competitive.

2) Idea for a startup on cards




It is believed that various accumulative and discount cards are gradually becoming a thing of the past. At least because no one wants to carry around dozens of options without knowing which one they need.

The developers of the startup "Cardberry" came up with the idea to create a device that can accommodate all kinds of cards.

We will not go into technical details. The bottom line is that any user cards are, as it were, entered into the memory of this electronic device.

Every time a person needs a certain card, he enters a special application and selects it.

"Cardberry" adapts to the choice and becomes a full-fledged replacement for the desired card.

For your attention, we offer a cool video

about the 10 most successful startups in the world:

3) Startup idea for a comfortable life




Perhaps you are not familiar with the SVET company yet, but you have every chance to hear about them.

As the name implies, the team offers lighting equipment. What is the innovativeness of this idea for a startup?

Today, startups are considered one of the indicators of economic development. The business space of each country is evaluated in terms of the success of projects created from scratch. In addition, prudent investors themselves are actively looking for new directions for business, because they are well aware that higher profits can be obtained where there is no fierce competition.

The main business trend today: sharing services are becoming more and more popular. Today you can declare yourself in almost any area of ​​business, but for this you need to offer a new and non-standard idea. This is exactly what the projects presented in this list have done.

10Thousand Eyes

Price:$80 million

ThousandEyes is a cloud service for monitoring and analytical processing of large data sets. Well-known technology companies such as Evernote, Jive, Zynga recognized the timeliness of the project and the quality of its service by partnering with ThousandEyes.

Unlike many successful business projects that made it to this list, ThousandEyes can be called a real startup. This is a promising project that continues to develop. ThousandEyes was founded by University of California programmers Ricardo Oliveira and Mohit Led. In 2014, after 4 years of the project's existence, it began to rapidly gain momentum. After a number of venture capital funds led by Sequoia Capital became investors of the startup, the value of ThousandEyes increased 4 times.

The popularity and quality of the service is evidenced by the fact that even Twitter engineers use it to monitor the status of their cloud storages and servers.

9.Handy

Price: over $100 million

Handy can also be called a full-fledged startup that works on the principle of service sharing. This is a mobile application that can help you find a specialist to do household chores, from simple cleaning to major repairs. In just a year, the cost of the project doubled, but the startup suffered the problem of many other representatives of the sharing economy - inconsistency with legal requirements. But still, development opportunities and financial prospects attract the attention of the most powerful funds in Silicon Valley to the project.

8.Zenefits

Price:$650 million

The company is engaged in revolutionary "cloud" software designed to manage a large team. With the help of software from Zenefits, HR managers get the opportunity to keep electronic records of recruitment, wages, insurance, etc. In addition, the service provides access to this information from anywhere in the world.

Zenefits was founded by businessman Parker Conrad in 2013. In just a year, the project turned from an unknown startup into a rapidly growing business, which is estimated at $650 million. The company's investors include Andreessen Horowitz and other leading Silicon Valley venture capital funds. Zenefits now serves over 2,000 corporate clients.

7. AdRoll

Price: not disclosed

AdRoll is among the brightest marketing projects of recent years. The startup is working on mobile retargeting, a service for tracking and analyzing consumer behavior across platforms and devices in terms of marketing. In 2014 alone, the company received $70 million in investments, and its shareholders are important venture capital funds, including the well-known Accel Partners.

6. Lyft

Price: not disclosed

In April 2014, Lyft successfully raised a $250 million investment. This online taxi service is growing faster than its main competitor, Uber. The company was founded in San Francisco in 2013 and in just a year has expanded its activities to more than 30 US states. Of course, this attracted the attention of reputable investors. Alibaba, Third Point, Horowitz and Founders Fund - the list of Lyft shareholders is really impressive. In the future, the company plans to penetrate the international market.

5. The Honest Company

Price: over $1 billion

Hollywood actress Jessica Alba in 2011 decided to create her own company for the production of environmentally friendly baby care products and cosmetics. For 4 years, the project has become very popular among its target audience - young mothers. Jessica Alba plays a very important role in marketing terms: she is the face of the brand, she constantly uses her products herself and always finds time to communicate with customers.

The Honest Company has invested over $120 million. At the same time, the company is highly valued in Silicon Valley: it is funded by Iconiq Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and others.

4. NJOY

Price: over $1 billion

In 2014, this manufacturing company electronic cigarettes, which occupies 30% of the US market, held the third round of negotiations with well-known funds and businessmen, after which it managed to raise $70 million. Among NJOY investors, it is worth highlighting billionaire Peter Thiel, former Facebook President Sean Parker, Morgan Stanley and Brookside Capital. The company has been operating since 2006 and its development is facilitated by the global tightening of anti-tobacco laws. The e-cigarette market in the US alone is valued at approximately $2 billion.

The uniqueness of the NJOY project is created thanks to great choice tastes of virtual tobacco. Fans of the company also praise the unique design of the cigarette, because even non-smokers do not want to let go of it. The authors of the startup themselves very simply talk about their main idea: “Once and for all, put an end to burning cigarettes.”

3.Pure Storage

Price:$4 billion

Data analysis and storage is one of the key directions in the development of IT technologies. Well-thought-out projects are in great demand in this area and the attention of investors is not concentrated only on the well-known Dropbox. Therefore, it is natural that the Pure Storage service, which serves corporate clients, almost doubled its value in 2014 alone.

The company was founded by John Hayes, John Colgrove and Scott Dietzen. Pure Storage manufactures fixed flash drives up to 250 terabytes. In fact, this is a flash drive with installed software that can be connected to a cloud storage and thereby speed up the work of virtual servers. The Wall Street Journal gave the development the title of "Innovation of the Year", and such powerful investment funds as Greylock Partners, T. Rowe Price Associates and Tiger Global became partners of the project.

2. Airbnb

Price: over $10 billion

This is a project that even those who are not interested in business have heard of. Airbnb is a fast and convenient service that allows travelers to rent directly from owners without having to go through various agencies.

In 2014 alone, the project attracted $500 million in funding, after which its cost increased to $10 billion. The founders of the company Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk and Joe Gebbia immediately became billionaires.

Airbnb is considered a leader in the sharing economy. The service includes 1.5 million properties in 190 countries. During the existence of the company, more than 11 million people have used its services.

1. Uber

Price:$40 billion

The Uber online taxi service belongs to startups only according to formal criteria. Despite the fact that the company is only six years old and has not yet gone public, Uber has long turned into a serious business, which received $ 2 billion in investments in 2014. The company's weekly revenue is about $ 20 million, and its founder Travis Kalanick has been in various ratings of the richest people in the world for several years.

Uber is hated by traditional taxi companies but loved by customers. The service allows passengers to independently find free drivers and pay them online. The company's capabilities are not limited to taxi services. Uber plans to enter other markets where smart logistics plays a key role - grocery delivery, courier transportation, postal services, etc.

Although these startups are only a couple of months old, they have already changed modern technologies. Business Insider magazine compiled a list of the best startups of 2015, considering factors such as funding, profitability, growth and investor interest. The list includes startups that quietly appeared on the market or were presented to the public only this year. We have selected 20 of the most interesting ones.

hungryroot

turns vegetables into bright and tasty pasta (the one that is pasta)

Former Groupon CEO Ben McKean created the startup Hungryroot to turn vegetables into amazing pasta dishes. When you place an order at Hungryroot, you get a prepackaged meal the next day that is 70-80% vegetable and 20% protein. The main ingredient is vegetable noodles from

Periscope

an online video streaming app bought by Twitter before its official launch

The League

dating app for the elite

Financing:$2.1 million seed round from Jon Vlassopulos, IDG Ventures USA, Roman Feola, Naomi Gleit, Cowboy Ventures, XSeed Capital, Peter Kelly, Russ Siegelman, Mark Leslie, Allen DeBevoise, SherpaVentures, Structure Capital.

gogoro

creates motorcycles in style

Gogoro only launched this year, although they have been running in stealth mode since 2011. The company debuted at a consumer electronics show with a smart electric scooter without recharging. According to the company, the motorcycle is charged using a portable battery that is replaced at Gogoro stations in big cities. The Gogoro motorcycle is ideal for daily commuting to and from the city, as well as for short trips. It accelerates to 96 km per hour, travels up to 160 km without recharging. The Gogopro system connects to the cloud service via cellular communication, and using the application on the smartphone diagnoses the condition of the motorcycle.

Financing:$300 million; investors include Dr. Yin and Cher Wang of HTC.

Ride

cheap, easy and eco-friendly way to commute

Oscar Salazar, CTO and third co-founder along with Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick, launched Ride earlier this year to make the daily commute less of a hassle. Ride is mainly focused on country trips and car sharing. It also makes it possible to travel where there is no public transport. The service helps to find fellow travelers among employees of the same company. Thanks to a shared ride, employees with their cars drop colleagues to their place of work and at the same time save money on gas.

Financing: unknown

Honor

service for finding qualified home caregivers for the elderly

Honor matches the elderly with home-based carers who care for them, while family members can monitor the work of specialists and be calm about the health of their parents or grandparents. In contrast to on-demand services like Uber and social services that give people instant access to work, Honor wants professional caregivers with a minimum wage of $15 an hour to build lasting relationships with clients. Honor teaches them to be ready for other people's expectations and finds older people with whom they can work well. For example, an old man who speaks Mandarin Chinese might find a caregiver who also speaks Mandarin.

Financing:$20 million from Kevin Colleran, Slow Ventures, Homebrew, Jessica Alba, Jeremy Stoppelman, Max Levchin, Kapor Capital, Andreessen Horowitz.

Eero

solves problems with Wi-Fi

There is nothing worse than an intermittent Wi-Fi signal. This is exactly the problem Eero is trying to solve. Eero devices are little white boxes that use Bluetooth and mixed traffic to connect and distribute Wi-Fi at home. A home typically requires three devices, according to Eero. The first is connected to the modem, while the others are plugged into the outlet. Gadgets are connected to each other via the internal radio network. The Eero devices are already available for pre-order, with one for $199 and three for $499. In February 2016 they will go on sale worldwide.

Financing: Eero has raised over $40 million from AME Cloud Ventures, Initialized Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Homebrew, Menlo Ventures, First Round, Playground Global, Redpoint Ventures and Shasta Venture.

even

offering people loans to keep them going until payday

Even is a smartphone app that helps professionals with uneven income sources or low wages get through payday to payday. While most Silicon Valley tech startups cater to the rich, Even is built for people with bad credit or hourly workers with unpredictable schedules. The application provides a loan, helping to survive difficult cashless weeks. They pay a fixed amount, not a percentage. Even works with users' bank accounts: for $5 a week, users get a steady paycheck with the same amount of money each week, even if they worked fewer hours one week and more hours the next. Users can save money with urgent expenses and automatic budget planning. The application has a pause button: it automatically blocks payments if the user is in financial difficulties.

Financing:$1.5 million from Andrew Cortin, Joe Zimer, Red Swan Ventures, Slow Ventures, Sam Lessin, Adam Rothenberg, David Tisch, L. Michelle Wilson, Mike Kryger, Kevin Systrom, Homebrew, Keith Rabois.

jet.com

sensational eCommerce startup competing with

Former Quidsi CEO Mark Lore has been working on a secret e-commerce startup that is poised to beat Amazon. This year, Jet.com was launched in beta with the money of investors from the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, using 10,000 “insiders”. The site promises to provide products at prices 10-15% lower than anywhere else, including Amazon. Jet originally asked users to pay a $50 membership fee, but dropped it in October.

Financing:$225 million from David Spector, Primary Venture Partners, MentorTech Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Accel Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Silicon Valley Bank, Western Technology Investment, Citi Ventures, Thrive Capital, Temasek Holdings, Norwest Venture Partners, Google Ventures, Goldman Sachs , General Catalyst Partners, Coatue Management, Alibaba.

Meerkat

the live streaming app that people at SXSW were crazy about this year

Financing:$18.2M from Raine Ventures, CAA Ventures, Vayner/RSE, WME, Chad Hurley, David Tisch, Ooga Labs, Aleph, Entree Capital, DreamIt Ventures, Gigi Levy, Ron Gura, Eyal Gura, PLUS Ventures, Jared Leto, Universal Music Group, Broadway Video Ventures, Comcast Ventures, SherpaShare, Vaizra Investments, Slow Ventures, Kevin Colleran, Soma Capital, Greylock Partners.

"21"

a secret startup that mines bitcoins using a phone

21 is a bitcoin startup that has been working in secret all this time and recently announced its plans to release a product in the form of an embedded chip called the BitShare chip that will allow you to “mine” bitcoins using your phone. These bitcoins can be used to pay for small services you use. By collecting bitcoins, you can create a whole stream of cryptocurrency for constantly confirmed transactions. The application of the new product "21" in the field of Internet of things, e-commerce and micropayments can be a very significant event. In a blog post, the company explained: “Instead of having to pay many different bills, you can connect to your smartphone right size BitShare and fully or partially cover the cost of cloud services.

Financing:$121.1 million from Winklevoss Capital, Pantera Capital, Peter Thiel, Qualcomm Ventures, Data Collective, Khosla Ventures, Yuan Capital, RRE Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz

Convoy

Uber for freight

While Uber is set to become a global logistics network, one startup is already making inroads into an industry that Uber has yet to take: trucking. The Seattle-based startup searches for trucks for exporters without intermediaries and finds the right vehicle based on the type of cargo, volume, necessary equipment and prices. The startup focuses on local and regional transportation, giving truck drivers the opportunity to make more money but still be home in time for dinner. Very similar to Uber, right?

Financing:$2.50 from Amazon founder Marc Benioff of Salesforce, Drew Houston of Amazon, founder Pierre Omidiar, former Starbucks president Howard Behar.

Diamond Foundry

grow diamonds. Exactly

Officially launched in November, the startup says it can grow hundreds of diamonds that go up to nine carats in just two weeks in a lab. It took the company three years of work to come up with a way to grow clean, non-synthetic diamonds in the lab. The company claims to have discovered plasma, which allows atoms to attach to a thin piece of diamond pulled from the Earth. After that, the atoms accumulate on top of a real diamond, layer by layer, until a pure and precious diamond is formed.

Financing: under $100 million Diamond Foundry closed three funding rounds from selected angel investors including Leonardo DiCaprio, Evan Williams, Mark Pinzius, Alison Pinzius, Andreas Bechtolsheim, Andrew McCollum, Owen van Natta, Mark Bennioff, Mark Goldstein, David Spector, Jeff Skoll, Scott Banister, Vast Ventures, Caspian VC Partners and many more.

Nebia

shower of the future

Funded by Tim Cook and hundreds of Kickstarter friends before the product even hit store shelves, the Nebia shower was a real boon in Silicon Valley. The startup was launched on the day of the presentation at Y Combinator in August and raised more than $3 million on Kickstarter, which made it one of the top twenty projects with high funding. The shower saves water by atomizing water under pressure, creating more steam and spreading over a larger area.

Financing: over $3 million from Kickstarter backers

Gigster

allows professional programmers to work from where and when they want

The startup was launched only this summer, having spent two years of work on it. He selects a team of application and software developers for the respective company. The client writes in plain language English essence desired business application. Gigster then analyzes the request, chooses the best team to work with, including programmers, product managers and designers, and gives you a standard offer with a guaranteed price. https://getcolor.com/

In July, three former Google employees launched a new advertising IT startup. Beeswax offers the first bidder-as-a-service solution, allowing brand builders, agencies and ad networks to manage their auction bids via the cloud. The technology conducts automatic bidding for the purchase of advertising space on the Internet before the web page is loaded. The service reduces the cost and time of the user, which is usually required for this.

Financing: Unknown. Investors include RRE, Revel Partners, Highland Capital, and SV Angel. Angel investors include many big names in IT advertising veterans, including former DoubleClick CEO David Rosenblatt, LiveRamp CEO Oren Hoffman, MediaMath CEO Joe Zawadsk, and former MoPub CEO Jim Payne.

Sourcepoint

going to fight ad blocking

Sourcepoint wants to make ad blocking less of a threat to the online advertising industry. The company grants the web publisher the right to decide what message will be displayed on the site for visitors with installed ad blockers. The advertiser can choose several options: bypass the ad blocker and still show ads, enable a banner for the visitor with the words "viewing ads, you pay for our content, so do not disable it", or allow the user to choose how the ad is viewed (see three banners for three reads). history, for example). Another site may request a paid subscription to content.

Financing:$10 million Investors include Spark Capital, Foundry Group, Greycroft and Accel Partners Europe, as well as a number of advertising and IT executives: Millennial Media's Michael Barrett, Mediamath's Joe Zawadzki, Moat CEO Jonah Goodhart and LiveIntent CEO Matt Kaiser .

Cohesion

startup that opened new way information storage in companies

In June of this year, Cohesity, one of the lavishly funded startups with a $70 million investment from Silicon Valley's leading venture capital funds, quietly launched. The startup intends to change the view on the "secondary storage" of all files and backup systems, which are not needed by enterprise systems in day-to-day operation, but are extremely important when they are needed. A startup founder can crack the code for this process. Cohesity CEO Mohit Aron is a former Google employee and co-founder of the $2 billion startup Nutanix.

Financing:$70M Sequoia, ARTIS Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Accel Partners, Battery Ventures, Google Ventures, and Trinity Ventures

Stay tuned for our list of the best Russian startups of 2015 this week.

Interesting startups from global and Russian practice: 4 differences between a startup and an ordinary business idea + 16 examples of successful ideas for inspiration.

Before presenting interesting startups, let's find out what it is all about.

Why the concepts of "startup" and " new business» demarcate?

And are there really differences between them, or is it just a matter of popularizing the use of borrowed words in modern speech?

For the first time this interesting term "" appeared in 1939.

It was used by two students at Stanford University.

So they designated their project, which later grew into a company known worldwide as "Hewlett-Packard".

Startups can exist in any industry, not just IT.

Startups are characterized by:

  • based on the use of innovations, interesting ideas that have not been implemented before;
  • usually have a small start-up capital, because startups are often closely associated with the search for investors or crowdfunding platforms to raise funds;
  • occupy an empty niche in the market, but at the start they have a “shaky” position;
  • As a rule, startups are the prerogative of students.

As you now understand, not every business idea can be called a startup, even if it is implemented by a novice entrepreneur.

Theory is theory, but it's time to move on to an overview of the most interesting startup ideas from all over the world.

Interesting startups from around the world

The selection is opened, of course, by American startups. It is this country that is the world leader in the regeneration of new interesting ideas for business.

A huge number of people want to study, live and work in the USA, which is why this power has a huge number of experts in various industries industry and service.

In addition, the state strongly supports representatives of small and medium-sized businesses.

Fertile ground for the development of startups!

Let's consider the most interesting of them.

— Pocket Anatomy

This startup took the main prize at the international conference of technological innovations in 2014 (TNW Europe 2014).

According to the creators themselves, the company has developed "Google Earth" of human entrails.

This interesting program is a visual aid to human anatomy.

The interactive map is presented as an application for smartphones.

It is designed to help humanity visually know their own body.

A startup, of course, is not only entertaining, but also educational!

Another participant of the mentioned conference is the Iwaku smart lamp.

Appliances in a stylish case will become the best friend of people who love interesting things.

In its modest shell size, a whole set of functions is hidden:

  • knows how to arrange light therapy;
  • wakes up the owner with the help of a glow, taking into account the biorhythms;
  • able to find mutual language» with your iPhone.

This interesting lamp is quite expensive - about 10,000 rubles.

But the creators of the startup promised to release a more accessible product in the future.

Startups from Estonia


Are you not familiar with examples of thriving businesses that have emerged in Estonia? Wrong!

It was here that the world-famous startup appeared - the program for video calls "Skype".

Based on the opinions of experts, Estonia is one of the leading countries among creating interesting start-ups.

Someone even calls it a modern analogue of Silicon Valley.

This development received its prize in 2015 as the most interesting startup created thanks to the joint efforts of American and Estonian developers.

For an uninitiated person, the essence of the service may be incomprehensible.

Rainer Sternfeld and his team have created a service that brings climate data together.

It should be understood that the background of "Planet.OS" is not entertaining. Rather, the resource is aimed at those whose activities are related to meteorology, transport communications (including water), the creation of various databases.

An example of the work of "Planet OS" on the analysis of the position of the ship:

Startups from Italy


Italy is also developing interesting start-ups in various fields.

Moreover, in this country, which does not rank first in the rankings of technological and economic development, an interesting law has been adopted since 2012. It says that anyone who wants to develop their startup for the benefit of Italy will receive a visa under a simplified procedure and especially favorable conditions for doing business.

As you understand, there were a lot of applicants (if you are also interested, look for information about a startup visa on the official website http://italiastartupvisa.mise.gov.it/).

What interesting start-ups can the country "boast" of?

This app is designed by Max Ciocciola. His job is to translate the text to the phone screen while the song is playing.

Simple and tasteful!

More than 31 million people already use this unique program.

The database contains 8 million texts with support for 40 different languages. Thanks to this project, the founder received a proposal for cooperation from various venture funds.

For detailed information, you can follow the link https://www.musixmatch.com/.

If you like to travel, you are definitely familiar with a service like Tripadvisor.

It contains information about all the main attractions of the world with detailed comments and user reviews.

In 2015, the developers of the resource introduced the startup "Thefork" to the world.

This development contains data on all restaurants in Italy.

If there is a question about choosing a place for an evening dinner, use the site https://www.thefork.com/.

It is enough to indicate the city, the number of people, preferences in cuisine, and you will open all the establishments where you will definitely like it!

The purpose of this project is to coordinate and optimize the company's workflow.

This interesting start-up received exorbitant investments from American investors (22 million dollars - a record for the last 15 years).

To learn more about this development, please visit http://www.decisyon.com/

Startups from France


The French government decided to follow the same path as in Italy. This power plans to get interesting startups thanks to competitions for, in the arsenal of which there are brilliant ideas.

The French Tech Ticket program is aimed not only at "locals", but also residents of other countries (including Russia).

Anyone who has an idea for an interesting startup can apply to participate in the competition.

You can learn more about this on the official website by clicking on the link http://www.frenchtechticket.com/.

If selected, a person receives the following privileges:

  • invitation to the country;
  • participation in specialized master classes;
  • assistance in solving “urgent” issues (obtaining a residence permit, obtaining insurance, finding housing);
  • a place in an incubator (organizations that support young entrepreneurs);
  • financial assistance - 45,000 euros for the development of a startup.

These actions of the power confirm the interest of France in development and the desire to attract highly qualified workers to its territory in order to continue creating interesting start-ups.

A well-known Italian company, in partnership with Uber, developed this startup to find satellites for the duration of the trip (more precisely, to “bring together” car owners and potential passengers).

Using the service is a convenient and profitable alternative to traveling by taxi, bus, or train.

In 2014, this idea has already received 100 million dollars of investment for development.

The project is presented in a number of countries and is developing rapidly.

You can also evaluate the work of BlaBlaCar in Russia at this link: https://www.blablacar.ru/.

This startup helped to solve not the most serious, nevertheless, urgent problem.

It enables a circle of users to form a common cash register. Everyone contributes using this interesting application.

What is it for?

To purchase a gift "from the whole team"!

Everyone who has ever collected money with colleagues for a present to the boss, or “thrown off” the whole family for a purchase for the hero of the day, knows that organizing such a process is quite difficult.

Probably, such a problem really found a great response in the hearts of investors. After all, the startup received almost 8 million dollars for development.

Startups come from Germany


Berlin is one of the emerging capitals that generates interesting start-ups for the whole world.

Thanks to this, according to experts, by 2020 more than 110 thousand new jobs and several dozen more incubators will open in the capital.

Among the many projects, we will highlight the most interesting startups.

— dreamcheaper

This project has become a "new breath" in the field of hotel reservations while traveling.

Thanks to the service, it became possible to buy tickets at a budget price and find a hotel in a convenient place.

Here, experienced travelers may have a question: why is this service better than a dozen similar ones? What is startup innovation?

The fact is that after you book a room, the process does not end.

Using internal algorithms, the service calculates the most profitable options for you up to the day of arrival at the hotel.

The program cancels the reservation on your behalf and changes it to a more optimal one automatically!

The creators suggest that their interesting startup will soon become the most hated resource for hotel owners.

This interesting startup has long been noticed by interior designers who actively use the service in their work.

This project allows you to purchase furniture or various decorative elements from all over the world.

If you think there is nothing innovative or interesting about this idea, then you have never created a room design on your own.

Among the places where the most interesting startups have been presented in recent years, London “owns the bronze”.

There are several reasons for this: the simplest system for registering entrepreneurs, an abundance of incubators and co-working spaces, many talented employees, and affordable taxation.

Consider the most interesting ideas that were "born" in such conditions.

This interesting start-up aims to identify a song just by its small excerpt.

This project was launched back in 1999.

The amount of investment attracted by the resource is simply amazing - 125 million dollars. And the value at which Shazam was estimated in 2015 is completely staggering - $ 1 billion!

To date, the service base is more than 12 million songs, and you can check the work at the link: https://www.shazam.com/en.

— Judo Payments

An interesting startup that resembles a mini-bank.

He is able to resolve payment issues and make transfers from card to card.

Such ideas help to simplify the life of mankind, which is why they develop and are popular. The amount of attracted investments is 14.3 million dollars.

More details can be found at https://www.judopay.com/

Interesting startups involving several countries

The Belgian-Dutch cooperation has borne fruit in the development of an application that can recognize the signature on the phone screen.

Such an interesting idea allows you to authorize payments without any problems.

It is believed that such a startup and others like it are capable of replacing the already existing security system using a pin code in the near future.

— Winner Takes All

This is the only crowd lottery on the planet.

The principle of operation is very simple: each participant buys a ticket, forming a common "bank". The program itself determines the winner weekly using random algorithms. The entire amount from the “general cash desk” is sent to him.

This idea attracted not only investors, but also users: with its transparency, simplicity and unpretentiousness.

You can try your luck here: http://www.crowdlottery.com/.

Having studied what interesting startups there are in the world, let's move on to considering projects in Russia.

In Russia, too, there are a lot of interesting ideas that are already serving the benefit of society.

The implementation of startups in the current realities of the Russian Federation is not an easy task. However, some interesting designs managed to stand out.

— Dr. Tariff

This interesting development for smartphones can calculate the available tariff plans for the phone with a single click.

A clear analysis of available tariffs is the main pride of startup developers. But this is not the limit of the application.

It is capable of giving detailed information about calls, sms and remaining traffic for using the Internet.

And for users who are not particularly versed in mathematical calculations, the program displays a color chart that shows the same indicators.

The application was created by Alexander Voloshchuk, faced with a problem known to everyone: the account is zero, and it is not clear where the funds went.

Relevance made the idea, which appeared in 2012, in demand and profitable.

Investors have invested several million rubles in it. At the end of 2014, the service paid off.

Now the average revenue per month can reach up to 1 million rubles.

You can find out more on the official website: http://drtariff.com/.

— Elpas

The creator (Maxim Serebrov) has developed a system of electronic passports, with the help of which all employees of the housing and communal services can report to the state and clarify contentious issues from the workflow.

Prior to this project, at the end of the month, housing and communal services simply “drowned” in the mountains of paper reporting.

It took a lot of time to consider. And where there is a need, business is born there!

Elpas has greatly facilitated the work of municipalities.

The work of this project can be viewed at http://elpass.ru/

The video contains the top 10 startups that were invented and implemented by students:

Interesting startups, of course, do not end there.

But to list everything within one review noteworthy ideas are simply impossible!

Remember, everyone is capable of making money from their ideas.

The main thing is to analyze the market and determine actual problems audience, and then follow your dream.

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"The bubble hasn't burst yet"

This is how the list of the most interesting startups of 2015 according to Forbes begins. It includes those companies for which investors have the most hopes and write the biggest checks. Among them are such monsters as Uber and Udacity, as well as unique services for finding care for your dog and delivering food from nearby restaurants. IN total, these 50 startups managed to spin up investors for $7 billion, and all together they are estimated at $120 billion.

Check out the list and maybe you decide to implement something similar in our country.

#1 Uptake Technologies. $1.1 billion valuation

A service that collects all information on the business of its client, processes it, organizes it and gives it to the client in the form of simplified analytics. Based on it, the client can better understand the results of his work and better correct it.

#2 Slack. $2.8 billion valuation

A service for organizing work processes, using it you can easily contact colleagues and subordinates, assign tasks, monitor their implementation, and also synchronize the application with other work services.

#3 Porch. Valuation $500 million

Service for finding workers for apartment repairs and orders for repair work. The base consists of 3.2 million specialists and 132 million works performed by them within the site. Plus, Porch insures each of its customers for $1,000 against poor-quality work.

#4 OfferUp. Valuation $814 million

Simple and convenient bulletin board. Inside the application, you can chat with buyers and sellers, pay for purchases, and quickly post or update product photos.

#5 Pics Art. Valuation $250 million

Photo editing application. One of the competitors of Instagram, the difference is that inside the application there are much more tools editing and a different approach to the creation of the feed and the interaction between users.

#6 Casper. Valuation $555 million

Manufacturer and online retailer of innovative and comfortable mattresses, pillows and sheets. The target audience of the project is young active urban population. Revenue to date has already reached $100 million.

#7 DoorDash. Valuation $600 million

Application for ordering food from the nearest restaurant.

#8 Expensify. Valuation $147 million

Service for tracking corporate budget expenses. With it, you can easily track how and what budget funds are spent on and quickly and easily adjust spending.

#9 Postmates. Valuation $450 million

Food delivery service by organization reminiscent of Uber. Couriers earn on a percentage of delivered orders. A competent approach to customers and well-organized logistics allow Postmates to earn $ 100 million a year.

#10 Zenefits. $4.5 billion valuation

Cloud software for personnel management. Using this cloud, HR departments can conduct their work from anywhere in the world. The cloud contains all the necessary information - payroll sheets, applicant questionnaires, reports on new employees and others. What happens if the cloud is hacked is not reported.

#11 ClassPass. Valuation $293 million

The service offers for a fixed fee to be able to visit various sports groups and sections in your city, without the need to book a time or arrange training.

#12 Jibo. Valuation $128 million

The company has developed a robot buddy. Its main task is to communicate and help everyone who is at home, and Jibo will have a special approach to each family member. He will be able to tell a fairy tale to children, an anecdote to parents, and in the kitchen he will tell you a recipe or read out messages for a specific addressee.

#13 Whip clip. Valuation $600 million

An application that allows you to share TV shows and music videos with your friends for free and absolutely legally.

#14 Namely.Valuation $181 million

Cloud service for personnel management. Allows you to set goals, monitor progress, reward employees, as well as pay salaries with automatic tax calculation and do it all through a web interface or mobile application.

#15 DraftKings. $1.2 billion valuation

Very popular destination in the USA gambling, in which users can create football teams from existing players and predict how they will spend the game season. The service was growing rapidly, gaining popularity, but literally at the end of the year, DraftKings and their main competitor were overtaken by lawsuits from the state with suspicion of fraudulent transactions and insider trading.

#16 Uber. $64 billion valuation

An international company specializing in calling and paying for a taxi or a private cab using a mobile application. The service is available in 68 countries and 300 cities, including Moscow, St. Petersburg and 5 other major Russian cities. Some European governments prevented the spread of the service, considering it "the largest illegal carrier", a similar situation was in Russia, but then an agreement was signed limiting the company's services to only legal carriers.

#17 Robinhood. Valuation $275 million

An application that allows you to trade stocks without commission. On the this moment operates only in the US and plans to expand to other English-speaking markets in 2016.

#18 Greenhouse Software. Valuation $245 million

A service that allows you to systematize and simplify the process of hiring employees. The creators promise to do all the hard work for you: the service will make a plan, help place ads, schedule interviews, and even collect a list of questions to ask when talking with a candidate.

#19 Layer3 TV. Valuation $385 million

Next generation cable provider in the US. The company has brought together veterans of the cable industry, as well as a lot of staff from Google, Comcast and Apple. Layer3 TV plans to combine the usual cable TV and mobile applications. This is all that is known about the plans of the company, the rest they keep secret.

#20 Pronutria Biosciences. Valuation $321 million

The company aims to track the level of amino acids in your body, and also gives advice to even out the imbalance and thus improve your health.

#21 Tanium. $3.7 billion valuation

Tanium products help companies' IT departments connect hundreds of thousands of computers quickly and securely. Among the startup investors are TPG funds, Institutional Venture Partners and T Rowe Price.

#22 Raise Marketplace.Valuation $608 million

The service allows you to buy and sell gift cards. It will be useful for those who want to save on purchases or turn their gift cards into real money.

#23 Beepi.Valuation $564 million

Beepi is a service where you can buy a car checked by your own specialists for a fair price and get the opportunity to return it. If the seller's car is not purchased within 30 days through the site, the company buys it for the agreed price and sells it itself. The price of a car is formed due to the commission of the site, the expectations of the seller and the assessment of the company's technical specialists.

#24 Corvus Pharmaceuticals. Valuation $236 million

Pharmaceutical company engaged in the development of drugs that support the immune system and help fight cancer.

#25 LendingHome. Valuation $519 million

The company is a platform for investors and people who want to get a mortgage loan. The former can easily start investing their money, while the latter can choose a profitable and convenient mortgage option for themselves.

#26 Affirm. Valuation $576 million

A financial startup that offers users instant micro-loans at extremely favorable rates.

#27 Credit Karma. $3.5 billion valuation

Credit Karma is a platform designed to provide users with a credit rating, regardless of the location of the person. The audience of the service is 40 million people. At this stage, the company provides reports, credit scores and some other financial instruments.

#28 Menlo Security. Valuation $127 million

Menlo Security develops an anti-malware solution. The total amount of funds raised by the startup reached $35 million. The company plans to completely rid users of viruses and other malware using its Isolation Platform system.

#29 Carbon3D. $1 billion valuation

Canadian startup specializing in 3D printing. The key advantage of Carbon3D is the CLIP printing technology, which allows you to print objects 25-100 times faster than other 3D printers. Products are more High Quality due to the continuous creation of the structure, and not layered.

#30 Afferent Pharmaceuticals. Valuation $280 million

A pharmaceutical startup that develops innovative medicines.

#31 WeWork. $10.2 billion valuation

The startup operates in several major US cities and offers freelancers, small teams and firms a variety of different coworking spaces. The business model is extremely simple. WeWork rent several floors in office centers on favorable terms, make repairs in them, create space for work, meetings and recreation, as well as install all the necessary office equipment. And then they offer everyone who wants to buy subscriptions to work in such a coworking space.

#32 zSpace. Valuation $160 million

zSpace offer users their vision of virtual reality. Their workstations are computers whose displays track the movement of special glasses and a controller in the form of a stylus and thus create a sense of three-dimensionality of the object.

#33 Premium Data. Estimated #375 million

The company helps to process a large amount of data to understand the economic effects in real time.

#34 Collective Health. Valuation $391 million

Collective Health is developing a corporate health insurance platform to help companies deliver health benefits to employees.

#35 Rover. Valuation $130 million

The startup can be called Airbnb for dogs. Even the interface is similar. Owners can choose who to leave their pet for care, and dog lovers can sit with them and even earn money.

#36 Cohesion. Valuation $336 million

The startup is working towards renting a secondary data storage. And this, according to Cohesity, is up to 80% of the total amount of data. The company will help you save up to 80% on storage costs.

#37 Udacity. $1.1 billion valuation

Udacity is not a newcomer among startups, but rather a well-known platform for self-directed remote education, which was born as an extension of Stanford University.

#38 Placester. Valuation $150 million

The company is designed to make life easier for American realtors by combining a huge number of real estate databases (more than 900 in the US) into one, with a user-friendly interface, search algorithm and support on mobile devices.

The company provides database storage services on "elastic" servers. They can expand if necessary, as well as “give away” the space that is not currently used.

#42 Cyanogen. Valuation $640 million

Almost any Android fan can talk for hours about this operating system, but if you don’t belong to those, then in a nutshell, Cyanogen is an OS that takes its roots in the same Android, but surpasses it in many ways.

#43 Handy. Valuation $360 million

Handy offers to take care of cleaning the premises. The company selects people who want to earn extra money on such a difficult task, surveys them, and then offers their services to customers. Such an Uber in the world of cleaning.

#44 Onshape. Valuation $800 million

Cloud platform for CAD modeling. All work is done through a browser, synchronized with a common project through the cloud and has a mobile interface.

#45 Illumio. $1 billion valuation

Illumio specializes in cyber security, and if most competitors deal with threats outside the "perimeter", then Illumio deals with violators who have passed the initial protection.

#46 Vroom. Valuation $218 million

The startup sells used cars in the United States.

#47 Nurix. Valuation $227 million

The company researches and develops drugs that affect the mechanics of protein regulation in the cell. This approach will help fight many diseases, including cancer.

#48 Gusto. Valuation $560 million

The company is developing cloud-based HR management. It allows you to pay employees, make tax deductions and much more.

#49 Betterment. Valuation $431 million

The startup is intended for people who want to start investing, but do not have much experience in this area.

#50 Theranos. $9 billion valuation

A revolutionary method for fast and accurate testing using tiny doses of biomaterial. In 2015, the media questioned the accuracy of the test results and accused the developers of defrauding investors. So far, only the media have paid attention to this, so in the future, either the storm will subside and the project will continue to work, or everyone will really be disappointed in it and Theranos will have to be closed.

This is what the 50 hottest startups in the US look like. After reading a little more about them, you can understand in which direction our society is moving and what we can see in the near future in the service market.

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