One Canadian site named to Top 100 World's Most Valuable Internet Startups
The Silicon Alley Insider published their SAI Digital 100 today which is what they believe are the "World's Most Valuable Internet Startups".
To come up with the Top 100, SAI evaluated more than 300 startups.
We're looking at common stock value here--the price the public market might put on the company (not the valuations achieved using sweetheart terms in some preferred stock deals).
Not surprisingly Facebook tops their list again, with a valuation of $25 billion, up radically from $6.5 billion last year. Rounding out the top five: Zynga, the social game developer; Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia we think could be worth $5 billion if it tried to make money; Skype, which might go for $5 billion in an open market; and Craigslist, the wildly popular listings site that could coin money if it ever decided to do so.
One Canadian Internet property made the list and it is Plentyoffish.com at #84 on the list and is valued at $100 Million.
Analysis: Markus Frind, the founder and only employee is a genius (and a rich man). His online dating site, PlentyOfFish is a free for users and generates revenue from advertising. The company is rumored to make about $30 million this year. If we apply slightly more than a 3x multiple, we get a $100 million valuation. Not bad for one dude.
Plentyoffish.com was #1 on our PEER 1 Canada Startup Index for September 2010, so it's not a surprise to see Frind's company singled out as the sole Canadian. Suite101.com and MetroLyrics.com aren't far behind though - could they be on the SAI Digital 100 list in 2011?
