ANALYSIS: Familiar Faces Found Among Silicon Valley ‘Newcomers’

The 2024 version of the Fenwick–Bloomberg Law SV 150 List contains an uncommonly low number of new names. Only 12 companies on this year’s list, which ranks the 150 largest publicly traded technology and life sciences companies in Silicon Valley based on their 2023 revenue, were not also on last year’s list. This is the smallest group of new arrivals since the list was first released in 2019 (which had 13).

What gives the 2024 list an even more familiar look is that half of the new names on it are not even new. Six of the 12 so-called newcomers had appeared on earlier annual SV 2024 lists and made comebacks in 2024: Coherus Biosciences Inc. (2020, 2021); Cutera Inc. (2019); Denali Therapeutics Inc. (2019, 2021); Eventbrite Inc. (2019, 2020, 2021); Model N Inc. (2019, 2020); and Ooma Inc. (2019, 2020).

In contrast, only one of the 19 newcomers on the 2023 SV 150 List was actually a returnee from previous years: iRhythm Technologies Inc. appeared as a new company on the 2020 SV 150 List, stayed on the list in 2021, and then returned on 2024’s list. Overall, of the 96 “new” appearances identified on the six Fenwick–Bloomberg Law SV 150 Lists, only eight were return appearances—and six of those comebacks happen to be on the 2024 list.

What might such an influx of returnees on the 2024 list mean? The six companies that returned to the SV 150 list in 2024 are, based on their IPO dates, older than the true newcomers; each went public in 2018 or earlier. But with the notable drop in IPOs in 2022 and 2023, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that older companies were able to find ways to break back into the SV 150, such as through acquisitions or investments.

Even the 2024 list’s real newcomers are older than usual. Of the six true debutantes on the list, only the two companies that debuted highest—Maplebear Inc. at No. 50 and NEXTracker Inc. at No. 59—went public in 2023. Of the four remaining all-new additions, three (Amplitude Inc., Nextdoor Holdings Inc., and PubMatic Inc.) went public in 2020–2022, and one (Twist Bioscience Corp.) had its IPO before 2020.

As with the returnees, the current lack of a dynamic IPO market in Silicon Valley may have further paved the way for the true newcomers to grow through investments and M&A activity. And given the M&A market’s own lackluster performance since 2021’s highs, it’s possible the slowed IPO and M&A markets, combined, made it more feasible for companies to grow and make the list after a slower burn, as opposed to the bang of going public and making the list in the same year.

Investment and M&A activity over time does indeed appear to be a common thread among the 2024 SV 150’s newcomers and returnees. Of the 12 companies that were not on 2023’s list, 10 were involved in at least one deal—as a buyer, seller, or target—since 2019. And all but one were involved in at least one deal since 2013. (The 12th company, Cutera Inc., was involved in an M&A deal in 2012.)

The two most prolific dealers during this time were Eventbrite and Maplebear, both of which were involved in at least one deal in eight of the past 11 years.

This extended record of investment and M&A activity suggests that companies’ involvement in these types of deals plays a role in their growth and may have a positive impact on their ability to become one of the Silicon Valley’s 150 largest companies—if not immediately, then somewhere down the line.

This trend accelerates at the top of the list. As my colleague Abena Opong-Fosu found, each of the top 10 companies on 2024’s SV 150 list were involved in some form of M&A or investment activity in 2023 or Q1 2024. So if this year’s newcomers want to climb the rankings—or stay on the list—they will likely need to continue to keep pursuing investment and M&A opportunities.

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In other analysis articles covering the results of the 2024 Fenwick–Bloomberg Law SV 150 List:

• Colin Caleb focuses on the Top 10, especially NVIDIA’s rise to No. 4 on the list;
• Preston Brewer looks at the changing role of IPOs in the makeup of the list; and
• Abena Opong-Fosu assesses the state of M&A activity among the top 10.

Bloomberg Law subscribers can find related content on our M&A Deal Analytics resource.

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