Startups: The 10 largest from 2010 are now worth 557% more.

By Felipe Moreno, from StartSe/Infomoney – The 10 largest startups of 2010 had an average valuation increase of 557,86% from the end of 2009 to mid-2010. This is already an impressive increase from any point of view, even more so when you consider the 1.187,27% gains of the social network LinkedIn, which five years ago was in 10th place among the most valuable.

Six out of ten companies ended up going public, one was 100% acquired, and three others remain in the same situation as they were five years ago. Of those that went public, besides LinkedIn, Facebook stands out with a 987,96% increase in value – a completely different fate from Zynga, which fell 50% from 2010 (when it was the 2nd most valuable startup) to 2015.

Wikipedia, which was ranked third at the time, has no interest in making a profit. Considering its growth in the number of unique monthly users since 2010, the encyclopedia has grown by 67%, catapulting its market value to US$8,35 billion – in line with what its founder, Jimmy Wales, believes is fair for Wikipedia.

The fourth and fifth places on the list are also not publicly traded. Skype was worth US$4,1 billion in 2010 and was bought by Microsoft a year later for US$8,5 billion. Craigslist, on the other hand, was estimated at US$5 billion in its last valuation, but faces competition from the giant Google and doesn't have great prospects.

Twitter, Yandex, Betfair, and LinkedIn all went public – and only Betfair showed a modest "increase" since 2010: 6,09%. Vente-Privee, the 7th-ranked company at the time, appreciated by "only" 20% and was valued at US$3 billion, according to the last estimate in 2015.

The high average return is excellent for any investment. Since 2010, for example, one of the biggest highlights of the Bovespa stock exchange was Kroton, which appreciated by 400% – significantly less than the 1.100% that LinkedIn has experienced from its unicorn startup days to today.