"When you go to the Valley now, and when you go to China now, they are working seven days a week in the fastest-growing companies," says 20VC founder Harry Stebbings.
Instagram: When Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012, the company had only 13 employees and was valued at $1 billion.
WhatsApp: When Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014, the company had around 55 employees, but it had previously raised funding at a valuation of $1.5 billion with a much smaller team.
Duo Security: In 2018, Cisco acquired Duo Security for $2.35 billion. At the time of acquisition, Duo had around 10 employees.
Nutanix: While not exactly a small startup at the time of valuation, Nutanix was valued at $1.2 billion in 2013 with around 10-15 employees.
(disclaimer: I sourced these from gpt and have not fact checked them)
Can those be valued at 1Bn?
Ok, yes, there are these examples:
(disclaimer: I sourced these from gpt and have not fact checked them)