50 Smartest Companies 2016
Our editors pick the 50 companies that best combine innovative technology with an effective business model.
- 23
Why
Created a more efficient lithium-ion battery that could reduce the cost of energy storage for the electric grid and electric vehicles.Company Details50 percent
The company claims it can reduce the cost of lithium-ion batteries by 50 percent. - 7
Why
After a two-year moratorium, 23andMe has resumed selling direct-to-consumer DNA tests that assess risk for genetic diseases.Company DetailsOne million
The company has sequenced the DNA of more than one million customers. - 1
Why
Call out a request and AI-powered Alexa will play your favorite song or order you a pizza. And Amazon Web Services just keeps growing.Company Details$89.99
What the Echo Dot, the most affordable device to feature Alexa Voice Service, sells for. - 18
Why
Building an operating system for commercial drones, as well as a traffic control system that could increase their usefulness.Company DetailsLeader
Airware’s founder and CEO also leads an investment fund that supports businesses creating technologies for commercial drones. - 5
Why
Its innovative batteries for the power grid make this startup unusually successful in a tough industry.Company DetailsBackers
Include Bill Gates, Shell. - 8
Why
Its DeepMind business inside Google developed an AI program that beat one of the world’s best players at the board game Go.Company Details1.6 million
Number of miles Alphabet’s autonomous cars have driven so far. - 47
Why
This e-commerce company is the continent’s first tech company to be valued at more than $1 billion.Company Details26
Africa Internet Group operates in 26 African countries. - 24
Why
E-commerce site is now the world’s largest retailer and will benefit from the growth in mobile video ads.Company Details$485 billion
Gross value of merchandise sold through Alibaba in its last fiscal year. - 33
Why
Advanced manufacturing facilities it is developing rely on connected sensors and sophisticated software to improve factory efficiency.Company Details$80 billion
Record revenue generated in 2015. - 2
Why
China’s leading search engine is developing autonomous cars, backed by a big research and engineering team in Silicon Valley.Company Details100
Baidu plans to employ more than 100 autonomous-car researchers and engineers in California by year’s end. - 25
Why
Uses of its life-saving immunotherapy, Opdivo, has expanded to lung cancer, advanced renal-cell carcinoma, and Hodgkin’s lymphoma.Company DetailsFive years
One-third of patients with advanced melanoma survived for five years in a study of Opdivo. - 44
Why
South Korea’s largest and fastest-growing online-only retailer is innovating in mobile commerce and same-day delivery.Company Details$5 billion
Coupang’s most recent valuation. - 13
Why
Last summer a hospital in London used Cellectis’s gene-editing technology to heal a child with otherwise untreatable leukemia.Company Details$300 million
Though not profitable, the company has over $300 million in cash, enough to last through 2018. - 32
Why
Its new kind of 3-D printing is dozens of times faster than rivals’.Company Details$40,000
Use of its 3-D printers costs $40,000 a year. - 21
Why
Apple’s $1 billion investment, part of $7 billion raised this year, will help the Chinese ride-hailing app continue to fend off Uber.Company Details14 million
Number of rides its drivers complete a day. - 14
Why
A number of Australian radiologists are now using the company’s deep-learning software to analyze x-rays.Company Details50 percent
Claims its algorithm read chest CT images 50 percent more accurately than experts in its own test. - 35
Why
Plans to begin testing a powerful new form of gene repair in humans within two years.Company Details$94 million
Money raised in its February IPO, and the stock is up 85 percent since then. - 15
Why
Its Oculus Rift technology is the first truly high-quality virtual-reality headset for consumers.Company Details$599
Rift sells for $599. - 41
Why
With clients like JPMorgan Chase, Sony Pictures, and Target, it’s creating a new model for computer security on a large scale.Company DetailsIn the works
New products focus on securing public and private clouds and detecting targeted e-mail attacks. - 11
Why
While rivals face bankruptcy, it has continued to invest in research, increasing the efficiency of solar panels.Company Details$546 million
Profits earned in 2015. - 27
Why
World’s largest maker of industrial robots is incorporating machine learning.Company DetailsEight
Number of hours a Fanuc robot needs to learn a task with 90 percent accuracy. - 10
Why
This Chinese telecommunications giant is now the world’s third-largest smartphone vendor thanks to strong sales in both premium and entry-level devices.Company Details27.5 million
Number of smartphones Huawei shipped in the first quarter of 2016, according to market researcher IDC. - 31
Why
The Oxitec division of this biotech holding company genetically engineers mosquitoes that could reduce the spread of Zika.Company Details$174 million
Acquisitions increased sales from $8 million to $174 million in five years. - 45
Why
Preparing for an AI era by acquiring huge data sets to train its software.Company Details100
Number of clients that have built Watson into a product. - 19
Why
Its large-scale desalination process is winning big contracts in China and Australia.Company Details30 percent
By October IDE will be producing 30 percent of Santa Barbara’s water. - 49
Why
In a time of transition, the chip maker is experimenting with reprogrammable processors for deep neural networks and marketing a fundamentally new kind of computer memory.Company Details$16.7 billion
Money Intel spent to buy Altera, a maker of programmable logic devices. - 3
Why
The world’s largest DNA-sequencing company is moving beyond simply selling equipment to expand its uses: a company it’s launching, Grail, intends to develop a blood test that would screen for cancer before symptoms appear.Company Details$2.2 billion
Revenue reached last year, up 19 percent from the previous year. - 29
Why
Its virtual-world simulation platform is used to create VR software and test driverless cars.Company DetailsFunding
Andreessen Horowitz is a major backer. - 38
Why
The Japanese messaging app is quick to add innovative features, such as group calls for up to 200 people, and plans an IPO this year.Company Details218 million
Number of monthly active users. - 48
Why
Maker of electronic building blocks has accelerated its growth with new funding, new investors, and new distribution.Company Details$299
Basic kits sell for $99 to $299. - 26
Why
Its neural-network research is leading to applications such as simultaneous language translation in Skype and social augmented-reality experiences in its new HoloLens headset.Company Details152
A Microsoft network that won a global image recognition contest in 2015 used 152 layers of virtual neurons. - 30
Why
Its computer-vision chips are making mobile devices and drones smarter.Company DetailsOn the radar
Drones using Movidius technology can sense obstacles to avoid collisions. - 6
Why
A leader in making driver assistance technology such as collision warning systems for clients including Tesla, General Motors, and Volkswagen, among others, it is working on advances that will enable fully autonomous cars.Company Details600
Number of employees who are annotating the images used to train its autonomous driving system. - 50
Why
Using RNA interference to create alternatives to conventional GMOs.Company Details$1.5 billion
Money invested last year in research on new biotech traits, genomics, and more. - 12
Why
With deep learning driving demand for its graphics-processing chips, it started selling chips designed for AI.Company Details$1.3 billion
Revenue increased 13 percent in the most recent quarter, to $1.3 billion, compared with $1.15 billion a year ago. - 36
Why
Food giant has jumped into microbiome research, working to develop “healthy gut” products.Company Details$2 billion
At a slow time for its core food business, its nutritional therapies division has reached $2 billion in annual revenue in its first five years, and more strong growth is predicted. - 22
Why
It’s begun selling a DNA sequencer the size of a smartphone that may move genomics out of the lab and into the field.Company DetailsIntellectual property
Illumina, once an investor, is now suing the company for patent infringement. - 37
Why
Has begun first human trials of optogenetics, using light-triggered genetic changes to restore some vision to people with retinitis pigmentosa.Company Details$12 million
Revenue raised from foundations and private investors as well as the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. - 28
Why
Its smart batteries, which include software to manage energy use and can store energy for later, are transforming the electricity market in Germany.Company Details25 percent
Electricity on its system is 25 percent cheaper than the electricity on the grid, according to the company. - 42
Why
Its software makes it possible to analyze one of the world’s largest genomic data sets.Company Details11,000
Number of patients that have contributed 33 cancer types and subtypes to its Cancer Genomics Cloud. - 43
Why
The workplace communications app burrows more deeply into workplaces. Now you can use your Slack login for all the software your company uses.Company DetailsThree million
Number of daily active Slack users. - 16
Why
The company is making spaceflight cheaper with rockets that can land and be reused.Company DetailsFour
Number of times SpaceX attempted to land a rocket on a barge before succeeding. - 46
Why
Building out its advertising business by partnering with Viacom to sell ads and with Nielsen for marketing campaign data.Company Details10 billion
Number of videos that are seen on the app every day. - 9
Why
Very strong trial data on its gene therapy for a form of blindness implies that the treatment is headed for approval.Company DetailsCollaborators
Corporate collaborators have included Pfizer, Genable Technologies, and Clearside Biomedical. - 20
Why
Asia’s largest Internet company, which owns the popular WeChat messaging app, is expanding into the enterprise market and investing in other technology companies.Company Details78 percent
Tencent’s largest business segment, mostly games, accounts for 78 percent of its revenue. - 39
Why
This money-transfer service, with a peer-to-peer model for sending money abroad, aims to charge lower fees than traditional players.Company Details$750 million
Money TransferWise helps users exchange every month. - 34
Why
Its flexible tool for diagnosing abnormalities more quickly has FDA approval for certain uses, including detecting a fungus that causes sepsis.Company Details35
Number of customers who now use the company’s bench-top diagnostic system. - 4
Why
While advancing autopilot technology in its Model S and X cars, the company is taking electric vehicles mainstream with its $35,000 Model 3 car, which already has 400,000 pre-orders.Company Details50 percent
According to CEO Elon Musk, drivers have a 50 percent lower chance of having an accident when driving with Tesla Autopilot. - 17
Why
Dramatically rethinking its future, the carmaker has committed $1 billion to an automation institute.Company DetailsLeader
Roboticist Gill Pratt is CEO of the Toyota Research Institute. - 40
Why
Attempting to sell low-cost genome tests directly to consumers.Company Details$1,000
Whole-genome sequencing, including interpretation and counseling, costs under $1,000. The supply is limited to 5,000 customers in 2016.