You may have been surprised a few years ago when Google acquired traffic app Waze or Facebook paid more than $21 billion for messaging service Whatsapp. We weren't. This year marks the fourth year of the CNBC Disruptor 50, and in that short history a lot has changed for these companies. Ten past Disruptors are now public companies; 12 have been acquired; three of the previous Disruptors went the way of many start-ups, shutting down, including one courtesy of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision. Eight companies have made the Disruptor list all four years. Below is the complete history of the CNBC Disruptor 50, with details on every start-up to make the list between 2013 and 2016.
| Company | 2016 rank | 2015 rank | 2014 rank | 2013 made the list* | Material changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23andMe | 5 | - | - | Yes | - |
| 3D Robotics | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| Aereo | - | - | 7 | Yes | Bankrupt November 21, 2014. It was later purchased by DVR company TiVo for $1 million in March 2015. |
| Airbnb | 2 | 5 | 41 | Yes | - |
| AngelList | - | - | 26 | - | - |
| Appito | - | - | 30 | - | IPO September 23, 2016. |
| Atlassian | - | - | - | Yes | IPO December 10, 2015. |
| Audax Health | - | - | - | Yes | Acquired by United Health Care February 19, 2014. |
| Betterment | - | 36 | 45 | - | - |
| Bill.com | - | - | 37 | - | - |
| Birchbox | - | 43 | 50 | - | - |
| Blippar | 9 | 19 | - | - | - |
| Bloom Energy | 6 | 3 | - | - | - |
| Boku | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| Box | - | - | - | Yes | IPO January 23, 2015. |
| BrightRoll | - | - | 27 | - | Acquired by Yahoo November 11, 2014. |
| Bromium | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| BuzzFeed | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| Castlight Health | - | - | - | Yes | IPO March 17, 2014. |
| ChargePoint | - | - | 12 | - | - |
| CircleUp | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| Cloudera | 14 | - | - | - | IPO April 28, 2017. |
| CloudFlare | 24 | - | - | - | - |
| Coinbase | - | 31 | 35 | - | - |
| Cool Planet Energy Systems | - | - | 25 | - | - |
| Coursera | 10 | - | - | - | - |
| Cylance | 40 | - | - | - | - |
| DAQRI | 15 | - | - | - | - |
| Dataminr | 43 | - | 13 | - | - |
| Deezer | 36 | - | - | - | - |
| Diamond Foundry | 33 | - | - | - | - |
| DocuSign | - | 13 | 29 | - | - |
| Dollar Shave Club | - | 37 | - | - | Acquired by Unilever July 19, 2016 |
| DraftKings | - | 45 | - | - | - |
| Dropbox | 42 | 6 | 24 | Yes | - |
| EcoMotors | - | - | 22 | - | - |
| Etsy | - | - | 3 | Yes | IPO April 1, 2015. |
| Ezetap | 3 | - | - | - | - |
| Fon | - | - | 40 | - | - |
| Foursquare | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| Fullscreen | - | - | 21 | - | Acquired by Otter Media/ Chernin Group/ AT&T September 22, 2014. |
| GENBAND | - | 22 | - | - | - |
| Getaround | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| Ginger.io | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| Ginkgo Bioworks | 7 | - | - | - | - |
| GitHub | 48 | 20 | 6 | - | - |
| HackerRank | - | 30 | - | - | - |
| Hampton Creek Foods | - | 24 | 36 | - | - |
| Hearsay Social | - | 39 | - | - | - |
| HotelTonight | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| Houzz | 11 | 11 | - | - | - |
| Humacyte | 37 | - | - | - | - |
| Impossible Foods | - | 42 | - | - | - |
| INRIX | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| InsideSales.com | 31 | - | - | - | - |
| Instacart | 50 | - | - | - | - |
| Intarcia Therapeutics | - | 29 | - | - | - |
| Jaunt | 47 | - | - | - | - |
| Kabam | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| Kabbage | 35 | - | - | - | - |
| Kickstarter | - | - | 49 | Yes | - |
| Klarna | 8 | 33 | - | - | - |
| Kumu Networks | - | - | 44 | - | - |
| Kymeta | - | - | 46 | Yes | - |
| LanzaTech | 13 | - | - | - | - |
| Lending Club | - | - | 33 | Yes | IPO December 11, 2014. |
| LightSail Energy | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| LISNR | 45 | 12 | - | - | - |
| LiveU | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| Lyft | 27 | - | - | - | - |
| MakerBot | - | - | - | Yes | Acquired by Stratasys June 19, 2013. |
| Medium | 26 | - | - | - | - |
| MicroSeismic | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| Moderna Therapeutics | 41 | 1 | 8 | - | - |
| MongoDB | 19 | 27 | 42 | - | - |
| Motif Investing | 44 | 23 | 4 | - | - |
| Narrative Science | - | 46 | - | - | - |
| Nebula | - | - | 31 | - | Bankrupt April 1, 2015. |
| Nest Labs | - | - | - | Yes | Acquired by Google January 13, 2014. |
| Nexmo | - | - | 39 | - | Acquired by Vonage May 5, 2016. |
| Nextdoor | - | 49 | - | - | - |
| Nutanix | - | 44 | - | - | IPO September 30, 2016. |
| Okta | 38 | - | - | - | IPO April 7, 2017. |
| Opower | - | - | - | Yes | IPO April 4, 2014. Acquired by Oracle May 1, 2016. |
| Optoro | - | 38 | - | - | - |
| Oscar | 17 | 17 | 43 | - | - |
| OUYA | - | - | - | Yes | Acquired by Razer July 28, 2015. |
| Palantir Technologies | 4 | 7 | 5 | Yes | - |
| Personal Capital | - | 18 | 17 | - | - |
| Phononic | 18 | - | - | - | - |
| Picarro | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| 46 | 35 | 32 | Yes | - | |
| Pure Storage | - | 16 | 19 | - | IPO October 6, 2015 |
| Qubole | - | 48 | - | - | - |
| Quirky | - | 15 | 18 | Yes | Bankrupt September 22, 2015 |
| Redfin | - | - | 34 | - | - |
| Rent the Runway | - | 28 | 38 | Yes | - |
| Rethink Robotics | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| Shape Security | - | - | 23 | - | - |
| Shapeways | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| Shopify | - | - | - | Yes | IPO May 21, 2015. |
| SimpliVity | 22 | - | - | - | Acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise January 17, 2017 |
| Skybox Imaging | - | - | 14 | - | Acquired by Google June 10, 2014. |
| Slack | 23 | 9 | - | - | - |
| Snapchat | 16 | 50 | 48 | - | IPO March 2, 2017. Now known as Snap. |
| SoFi | 49 | 25 | - | - | - |
| SpaceX | 30 | 2 | 1 | Yes | - |
| Spotify | 25 | 47 | 9 | Yes | - |
| Square | - | 40 | - | Yes | IPO November 19, 2015. |
| Stripe | 29 | - | 15 | - | - |
| SugarCRM | - | 32 | - | - | - |
| SurveyMonkey | 32 | 14 | - | - | - |
| Synack | 20 | 21 | - | - | - |
| Teespring | 21 | - | - | - | - |
| TransferWise | - | 8 | 16 | - | - |
| Tumblr | - | - | - | Yes | Acquired by Yahoo May 20, 2013. |
| Twilio | 39 | 41 | 47 | Yes | IPO June 23, 2016 |
| - | - | - | Yes | IPO November 7, 2013 | |
| Uber | 1 | 4 | 10 | Yes | - |
| Udacity | 12 | - | - | - | - |
| Veniam | 28 | - | - | - | - |
| Warby Parker | - | 10 | 2 | Yes | - |
| Waze | - | - | - | Yes | Acquired by Google June 11, 2013. |
| Wealthfront | - | 34 | 20 | Yes | - |
| WeWork | 34 | - | - | - | - |
| - | - | - | Yes | Acquired by Facebook February 19, 2014. | |
| Yext | - | - | 28 | - | IPO April 13, 2017. |
| ZenPayroll | - | 26 | - | - | Now known as Gusto. |
| ZocDoc | - | - | - | Yes | - |
| Zuora | - | - | 11 | - | - |
