Ripple, the blockchain company backing the third-largest cryptocurrency, XRP and Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange lose their positions on LinkedIn Top Startups List. In 2019, Ripple and Coinbase were ranked much lower compared to the 7th and 3rd positions they both held in 2018, respectively.
LinkedIn Releases List of the Top 50 Startups in the U.S.
On September 4, 2019, LinkedIn released its list to the top 50 startups in the U.S. in 2019. According to the employment-oriented service platform, these are the hottest startups anyone should aim to work for. Moreover, the companies have been selected based on their jobseeker interest, employee growth, member engagement with the company, amongst other metrics.
On the list, Ripple and Coinbase ranked 28th and 29th respectively. However, a look at LinkedIn’s 2018 most sought after companies list shows that the duo had come in 7th and 3rd places. As such, their most recent placement shows a significant decline from the previous year. In 2019, the 7th and 3rd positions have been overtaken by Robinhood, a financial services platform, and Samsara, an Information Technology, and Services company.
Not Just Ripple or Coinbase; Blockchain Firms Falls Out of Top 10
In the same vein, Snowflake, a computer software company is ranked 1st on the list. It is, however, remarkable that Snowflake took the 20th position in 2018. In the current list, Snowflake is closely followed by Dosist, a health and fitness company, Samsara, and DoorDash, an on-demand food delivery service.
Explaining further the criteria for its selection, LinkedIn revealed that its editors and data scientists had to rely on the actions generated by 645 million members on its platform. Also, before a company is eligible to be on the list, it must be based in the U.S. The company must also be seven years old or younger, it said.
However, Shirly Valge, who is VELAS AG’s project lead, while responding to the recent development, said in her statement that;
“I think these kinds of lists have to be taken with a grain of salt, as there are numerous factors involved in deciding who places where. Not only has both Coinbase and Ripple fallen out of the top 10, but there isn’t an actual crypto or blockchain startup present in that section of the list.
Does that mean those companies or the industry as a whole is on a downward trend? Quite the opposite, in fact, which is kind of ironic as we saw both companies ranked in the top 10 last year when market conditions were less favorable than they are today.”
2019 has been, by and large, a good year for the crypto and blockchain space, and I don’t think any list of top startups will do much to affect that. The exciting companies who made the top ten this year should be the focus, rather than any negativity towards companies who didn’t make it.”
Last Time Ripple and Coinbase will be on LinkedIn’s Top Startup List
Based on the information by LinkedIn, this will be the last time we’ll see Ripple and Coinbase on the LinkedIn Top Startups list since they will be more than seven years old in 2020. Nonetheless, they might still get ranked as some of the top companies by other platforms.
For instance, Forbes on February 4, 2019, ranked Ripple as one of the most innovative Fintech companies in 2019. Similarly, Coinbase was ranked on Forbes’ list for its $525 million funding. Other top companies on the same list included Bitfury, a Blockchain technology company, Circle, a peer-to-peer payments technology company, and Gemini cryptocurrency exchange.
