Every year, TrueBridge looks at the top ten companies creating significant value for investors on the Forbes Midas List. While we tend to see new company drivers every year as industry upstarts emerge to spur returns, this year’s list is made up almost entirely of veteran companies, with the exception of newcomers Kuaishou, Roblox, and Nubank.
Notably, the 2022 list only features two private companies – ByteDance and Stripe – which reflects a sharp decrease in private company drivers from prior years. Most of the 2022 drivers went public in the past few years, and those IPOs delivered the most exit value to our top VCs for this year’s List. In a turn of events, a newfrom Renaissance Capital shows that March 2022 saw the slowest weeks the IPO market has seen in six years, with 18 companies raising a mere $2.
Another recurring theme we saw this year was the dominance of Asian-based companies, with nearly a third of the top drivers hailing from Asia and, in particular, China. Historically, companies from Asia have had a strong showing on the list of top drivers for the Midas List, and this year was no different as industry behemoths like ByteDance, Coupang, and Kuaishou continued to create value for their investors.
ByteDance has undergone a major reorganization of its business over the past year, creating six business units and undergoing several executive changes. Founder Zhang Yiming announced his resignation as CEO in May and as Chairman in November, and CFO Shou Zi Chew stepped down in the fall to focus on his role as TikTok CEO. The company also recently disbanded its investment arm and eliminated a global team in its human resources department.
The Wall Street Journal reported in July that, after weighing an initial public offering of all or some of its businesses in the US or Hong Kong, ByteDance decided to put its intentions to list on hold after government officials told the company to focus on addressing data security risks.