Looking for the 'Next Big Thing'? Ranking the Top 50 Start-Ups

The Wall Street Journal

Venture capitalists are still investing in flashy Internet start-ups, but the "Next Big Thing" is more likely to be a maker of humdrum Internet plumbing for businesses.

The Wall Street Journal's third annual ranking of the top 50 venture-capital-backed companies shows a crop of contenders that overall are focused less on online consumers than in years past.

The top three ranked companies are all business-product makers: Genband Inc., a supplier of voice-over-Internet-protocol technology to telecom companies; Xirrus Inc., a provider of wireless networking equipment; and Tabula Inc., which makes semiconductors for electronic products.

Several other companies on the list offer products or services designed to help businesses run more efficiently, such as data-storage company Nimble Storage Inc. (No. 26) and business-analytics software provider Marketo Inc. (No. 20), cloud-computing services provider Appirio Inc. (No. 29)...