10 startup studios that created billions in value

Startup studios are a beautiful concept. A bunch of smart people are put in one room to place many bets. I counted over 750 of them (a 650% increase in 2022). Here are 10 that have created many billions in value:

Why it's an interesting model:

• Because you have experienced people, you:

  a) Build a company faster (studio companies scale and exit in half the times vs a traditional startup)

  b) Make fewer mistakes, increasing your success chances (60% of companies raise Series A).

• You retain more equity & generate more returns (53% IRR compared to VC-funded startups at 21%).

• You'll have a repeatable winning formula to launch, build, and exit companies.

• Lack of focus

• Not working? It's easy to move on to another idea. Startups win when they iterate and push hard enough

• No pressure to show immediate results as any other startup that might die any day now

OK, here are most successful ones:

1. Betaworks
   
   Founder: John Borthwick
   
   Focus: web3, ML, and media industries. Portfolio companies: GIPHY, Instapaper, Bitly, Tweetdeck, and others. Success rate: 60% (60% of its companies either IPOs, get acquired, or become unicorns).
   

2. Idealab
   
   Founder: Bill Gross

   Focus: AI, commerce, & clean energy industries. They have created/participated in 150+ companies, with 50+ IPOs and acquisitions. Portfolio companies: Overture, Heliogen, etc. Success rate: 65%
   

3. Science
   
   Co-founder: Peter Pham

   Focus: mobile & eCommerce verticals. They have spun out 60+ companies, 8 of which have been acquired for $1.3B+. Portfolio companies: Dollar Shave Club, Liquid Death, & more. Success rate: 43%
   

4. finleap
   
   Founder: Michael Hock and Ramin Niroumand

   Focus: fintech. They have built 15 independent companies, of which 10 are active and worth $3.2B+. Portfolio companies: Solaris, Element, and more.
   Success rate: 17.5%
   

5. Expa
   
   Founder: Garrett Camp

   Focus: commercial services and software verticals. They build their own companies and partner with other founders to launch them. Portfolio companies: Drip, Gitalytics, and more. Success rate: 15%
   

6. Norselab
   
   Founder: Yngve Tvedt
   
   Focus: sustainable (clean energy & transport and mobility) and software industries. Portfolio companies: Antec, Wanda, and more. Success rate: 14.3%
   

7. eFounders
   
   Founder: Thibaud Elziere
   

   Focus: product-led SaaS industry. They have created 30+ companies with a combined portfolio valuation of $2B+. Portfolio companies: Spendesk, Front, and more. Success rate: 13%
   

8. Atomic
   
   Founder: Jack Abraham

   Focus: software, consumer services, & healthcare. They have tested 100s of ideas & recently launched 14 startups in 1 year. Portfolio companies: Hims (IPO'ed at $1.6B), OpenStore, etc. Success rate: 13%
   

9. TandemLaunch
   
   Founder: Helge Seetzen
   
   Focus: software and commercial service sectors (AI, audio, & video). They have created 30+ companies, which are valued at $675M+. Portfolio companies: Deeplite, Wrnch, and more. Success rate: 11.5%
   

10. High Alpha
    
    Founder: Scott Dorsey

    Focus: the B2B SaaS industry. Launched 30 companies, out of 8 that have been acquired by Shutterstock, Seismic, and more. Portfolio companies: Stitch, Filo, and more. Success rate: 6.5%