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The World's Top 100 Private Deep Tech Companies

The XB100 is the definitive ranking of the world’s top 100 private deep technology companies, brought to you by XPRIZE and Bessemer Venture Partners.

Methodology
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State of Deep Tech

In this exclusive report, we break down the nine deep tech sectors represented in the XB100, from agriculture to quantum and space. Navigate here to read the benchmarks and trends that emerged from our research and our perspective on the challenges facing deep tech founders in the coming years.

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Xanadu

David Cowan sits down with CEO & Founder Christian Weedbrook where they discuss how Xanadu is building universal quantum computers using light. 

Anthropic

Tess Hatch explores the future of artificial intelligence with the Co-founders of Anthropic—CEO Dario Amodei and President Daniela Amodei. Together, they discuss why they believe an AI model can be honest, harmless, and helpful.

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Learn more about deep tech from XPRIZE and Bessemer.

Generate Biomedicines

Andrew Hedin meets with CEO Michael Nally where they recount advancements in biotechnology and how leaders like Generate Biomedicines are working to help cure intractable diseases.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems

Chris Wan talks to CEO & Co-founder Bob Mumgaard and VP of Operations Darby Dunn about renewable fusion energy and it’s powerful potential to combat the climate crisis.

Boom Supersonic

Tess Hatch and CEO & Founder Blake Scholl envision new horizons of aviation as they discuss how Boom is making the world more accessible through high-speed travel.

XB100 List

Download List
Rank Company CEO HQ Founded Sector What it Does
1
SpaceX
 Elon Musk Hawthorne, CA 2002 Space Designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft
2
OpenAI
 Sam Altman San Francisco, CA 2015 Artificial Intelligence AI research and deployment, with a goal of building artificial general intelligence
3
Blue Origin
 Bob Smith Kirkland, WA 2000 Space Reusable launch vehicles utilizing rocket-powered vertical take-off and vertical landing technology
4
Northvolt
 Peter Carlsson Stockholm, Sweden 2016 Climate Lithium-ion battery plants intended to produce batteries for electric vehicles
5
Impossible Foods
 Peter McGuinness Redwood City, CA 2011 Agriculture Plant-based meat
6
Anduril
 Brian Schimpf Irvine, CA 2017 Aviation/Drones Autonomous hardware and software for the national security sector
7
Nuro
 Jiajun Zhu Mountain View, CA 2016 Mobility/Autonomous Vehicles Self-driving vehicles
8
Sila Nanotechnologies
 Gene Berdichevsky Alameda, CA 2011 Climate Higher energy density lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles
9
Anthropic
 Dario Amodei San Francisco, CA 2021 Artificial Intelligence AI safety and research to create large-scale AI systems that are steerable, interpretable, and robust
10
Indigo Ag
 Ron Hovsepian Boston, MA 2013 Agriculture Plant agricultural services to increase crop yield through their biologicals business, scope 3 sustainable grains program, and carbon program
11
Carbon
 Phil DeSimone and Craig Carlson Redwood City, CA 2013 Robotics Industrial 3D printing
12
Pony
 James Peng Fremont, CA and Beijing, China 2016 Mobility/Autonomous Vehicles Full-stack robotaxis
13
Zipline
 Keller Rinaudo Cliffton San Francisco, CA 2014 Aviation/Drones Drones to deliver vital medical products to everyone
14
TerraPower
 Chris Levesque Seattle, WA 2009 Climate Sodium fast reactor for nuclear fission
15
Geek+
 Yong Zheng Beijing, China 2015 Robotics Robotics technology for logistics and warehouse automation

Judges

Anousheh Ansari XB100 Judge

Anousheh Ansari

Astronaut and CEO of XPRIZE
Emily Calandrelli XB100 Judge

Emily Calandrelli

Science Communicator, Author, and Emmy-nominated TV Host
Lori Garver XB100 Judge

Lori Garver

Co-founder of the Brooke Owens Fellowship and former Deputy Administrator at NASA
Ray Johnson XB100 Judge

Ray Johnson

CEO of Technology Innovation Institute and former CTO of Lockheed Martin
Stacy Kauk XB100 Judge

Stacy Kauk

Sustainability Expert
Ray Kurzweil XB100 Judge

Ray Kurzweil

Author, Inventor, and Futurist
Tina Seelig XB100 Judge

Tina Seelig

Executive Director of Knight-Hennessy Scholars at Stanford University

Explore More

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The quantum advantage

As we map out the frontiers of innovation, quantum computing (QC) looms large as possibly the most important scientific invention of the 21st century.

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Climate tech lessons

On the brink of a new technology movement to build a climate-conscious and more sustainable world, we reflect on the lessons and insights from CleanTech 1.0.

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Space is open for business

This new space stack promises a virtuous cycle of innovation, diversity, and growth.

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AI 4 Good

“The Power of AI For Good” follows the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE and highlights the winning team’s 5-year, compelling journey to victory.

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Meet the ANA Avatar XPRIZE Winners

Whether for disaster relief, to provide care from a distance, or to provide critical repairs or maintenance, avatar robots are the future of connection. Check out the $10M ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition.

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Watch the ANA Avatar Finals Event

Watch the full nail-biting broadcast of the ANA Avatar XPRIZE Finals (Days 1 & 2 of testing). Don’t miss your chance to see 17 finalist teams from 10 countries go head to head in this intense robotic competition.
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Methodology

The XB100 is the definitive ranking of the world’s top private deep technology companies. XPRIZE Foundation and Bessemer Venture Partners have set out to define and study this promising cohort of businesses shaping the future. 

The XB100 is delineated into 9 categories: Agriculture, Artificial intelligence (AI), Aviation, Climate, Mobility, Next-gen biotech, Quantum, Robotics, and Space. We evaluated these businesses based on the following four criteria.

01

Impact on humanity

Seven judges evaluated each category’s impact on humanity: Anousheh Ansari, Emily Calandrelli, Lori Garver, Ray Johnson, Stacy Kauk, Ray Kurzweil, and Tina Seelig.

02

Valuation

We obtained the last known valuation of the company based on third-party data providers, industry valuation methods, and additional factors.

03

Scientific difficulty

To assess the difficulty of a company’s scientific research, we relied on two proxies: (a) the number of PhDs at the company based on third-party data providers, and (b) the number of patents granted to the company according to geographical patent databases.

04

Commercial traction

We scored commercial traction using the Technology Readiness Level framework standardized by NASA. In the case of biotech companies, we examined whether a company is going through clinical trials.