Silicon Alley Insider creates start-up valuation index
How much is Facebook, Wikipedia, or Twitter worth? Silicon Alley Insider is attempting to crack the mysterious code on the valuations of the major Web start-ups with its SAI 25 Live! It tracks the valuation of the private companies and shows changes in those valuations in real-time (updated every 20 minutes on the site).
(Credit: Silicon Alley Insider)Given that the companies in the SAI 25 (or 47 in this case) don't share their numbers like a public company, the index is based on educated guesswork, looking at a combination of VC financing, financial performance, growth rate and market share and size.
Interestingly, Facebook, which was valued at $15 billion upon the $240 million investment by Microsoft, is valued at only $9 billion. That's still a lot of money for a company that did about $150 million in revenue last year. SAI includes dossier pages for each company in it index. It attributes the lower valuation of Facebook to the failure of the Beacon social advertising service to gain acceptance.
Even if the SAI index isn't accurate, it provides a framework for evaluating the mostly opaque startups and some fun for those who love tech company sports.
Dan Farber is editor in chief of CBS Interactive News, which includes CBSNews.com and CNET News. He has more than 25 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. E-mail Dan.
- Topics:
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Web 2.0,
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Social networking
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Silicon Alley Insider,
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startups
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