CNBC Disruptor 50

Call for nominations now open for the 2019 CNBC Disruptor 50

Key Points
  • CNBC is now accepting nominations for the 2019 CNBC Disruptor 50, our annual list of private companies transforming the economy and altering industry.
  • The deadline for submissions is Monday, Feb. 4, at 12 p.m. Eastern time.
  • All private, independently owned companies founded after Jan. 1, 2004, are eligible.
  • Winners will be notified in April, and the list will be published in May across CNBC's TV and digital platforms.

CNBC is now accepting nominations for the 2019 CNBC Disruptor 50, our annual list of private companies transforming the economy and altering industry.

Submit your nomination for the 2019 CNBC Disruptor 50 by clicking here.

CNBC

The deadline to submit the 2019 CNBC Disruptor 50 Nominee Submission Form is Monday, Feb. 4, at 12 p.m. Eastern time. All private, independently owned companies founded after Jan. 1, 2004, are eligible, and any company founder or executive, investor in the company, or any of their communications representatives are welcome to submit the nomination form.

For the first time, CNBC is limiting the age of Disruptor 50 companies to 15 years. This decision is based on an editorial review of venture-backed public companies and past Disruptor 50 companies and nominee companies. Imposing an age limit keeps the list aligned with its ongoing mission to identify the next generation of innovative public companies.

In 2018 more than three-quarters of venture-backed companies to go public were 15 years old or younger. Most Disruptor 50 companies are on a much faster track to an IPO. Since the list began in 2013, 32 Disruptor 50 companies have gone public. The median age of those companies at their IPO was just seven years. For most of that group, the IPO was just the next step on the way to bigger successes.

A look back at the CNBC Disruptor 50: 6 years, 167 companies

There is, perhaps, no better example of this than Twilio. The company, which provides voice, text, chat and video services to millions of app developers, was named to the Disruptor 50 List for four straight years, from 2013 to 2016, and then debuted at the New York Stock Exchange in June 2016 at $15 per share. Less than three years later the stock is trading closer to $100 per share, riding a massive 278 percent gain in 2018.

Twilio is an 11-year-old company. When it was first named to the Disruptor 50 List in 2013, it was barely known. The same will be true of some of the companies that earn a spot on the 2019 Disruptor 50 List, and our new 15-year age limit gives CNBC even more capacity to identify the next generation of groundbreaking start-ups.

So who's next?

The competition will be tough. In 2018, 981 companies submitted nominations from the United States and around the world. In the end, 50 companies, with a combined valuation of more than $350 billion, made the final cut.

Nominees will be put through a comprehensive and rigorous process of researching and scoring across a wide range of quantitative and qualitative criteria. Winners will be notified in April, and the list will be published in May across CNBC's TV and digital platforms.

To stay part of the conversation, follow @CNBCDisruptors on Twitter and look for updates at disruptor50.cnbc.com.