NASDAQ
26 companies
2U
EdTech - Higher Education
Partners with universities like remora fish attached to sharks—using institutional brands for credibility while handling the operational swimming. The...
Academy Sports + Outdoors
Sports Retail
Equips human predators with specialized hunting and competition tools—rods for aquatic prey, projectiles for distant targets, protective gear for cont...
Academy Sports + Outdoors
Specialty Retail
Equips human predators with specialized hunting and competition tools—rods for aquatic prey, projectiles for distant targets, protective gear for cont...
ADP
Human Resources Technology
Payroll processor embedded in companies like gut bacteria—essential, invisible, processing millions of paychecks without anyone thinking about it. Com...
Alignment Healthcare
Health Insurance
Alignment coordinates Medicare patients like elephant matriarchs shepherd their old - the herd doesn't abandon aging members, it invests more care. Gr...
Astra Space
Space Launch Services
Astra's small launchers operate like r-selected species—fast development, frequent launches, accepting high failure rates to learn quickly. They're bu...
Aurora Cannabis
Cannabis
Aurora cultivates cannabis in controlled facilities—artificial selection for THC and CBD content like wheat bred for grain yield. Their indoor grows o...
Aurora Innovation, Inc.
Autonomous Vehicles
Aurora's self-driving software processes sensor data like a dragonfly's visual system—360-degree awareness, millisecond reactions, parallel threat ass...
Blink Charging Co.
EV Charging Infrastructure
EV charging network Blink races to occupy territory before competitors - staking out parking lots like trees competing for sunlight access.
Canoo Inc.
Electric Vehicles
EV startup building skateboard-platform vans—modular designs promising flexibility before capital ran dry. Burned through SPAC cash like mayfly metabo...
Canopy Growth
Cannabis
Canadian cannabis pioneer colonizing post-legalization terrain—growing, processing, retailing marijuana like opportunistic weeds after forest fire. Fi...
Check Point Software Technologies
Cybersecurity
Check Point pioneered firewall security like pufferfish detecting threats - recognizing and blocking cyber attacks at network perimeters, protecting 1...
CleanSpark
Bitcoin Mining
CleanSpark mines Bitcoin using renewable energy - data centers consuming electricity to solve cryptographic puzzles, converting power into digital cur...
Coupa Software
Supply Chain Software
Coupa centralizes corporate purchasing - routing requisitions through approval workflows where spending becomes visible and controllable. Like meerkat...
Cronos Group
Cannabis
Cronos grows cannabis in Canada where federal legalization created ecological release - removal of prohibition constraints that opened niches for comm...
Cumulus Media
Media
Cumulus Media's November 2017 bankruptcy made it the second-largest radio bankruptcy after iHeartMedia. The company had assembled 400+ stations throug...
Docebo
EdTech - Corporate Learning
Docebo delivers corporate training through cloud-based learning. Its LMS platform hosts videos and quizzes that employees complete on-demand, complian...
Elbit Systems
Defense & Aerospace
Israeli defense contractor specializing in drones and avionics—military technology export dependent on geopolitical relationships. Surveillance system...
Embark Technology, Inc.
Autonomous Vehicles
Autonomous trucking startup that merged with SPAC then struggled—self-driving freight vision colliding with technical reality. Disbanded operations af...
Enphase Energy
Solar Technology
Duplicate entry for enphase-energy - microinverter leader with distributed solar architecture enabling panel-level optimization and monitoring.
Eos Energy Enterprises
Energy Storage
Zinc-based battery storage for grid applications—alternative chemistry competing with lithium like different metabolic pathways. Manufacturing struggl...
EVgo Inc.
EV Charging Infrastructure
EV fast-charging network competing for prime locations—territorial race to claim high-traffic sites like birds competing for nest cavities. Infrastruc...
Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc.
Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicle startup burning through capital reserves while racing to production, operating on diminishing fat stores like a hibernating bear exte...
Fluence Energy
Energy Storage
Energy storage technology provider deploying battery systems and software for grid stabilization, integrating renewable power at utility scale.
iHeartMedia
Media
iHeartMedia's March 2018 bankruptcy collapsed America's largest radio broadcaster under $20 billion in debt from a 2008 LBO by Bain Capital and Thomas...
ZoomInfo
Sales Technology
Go-to-market intelligence platform providing B2B contact data, company information, buying signals, and sales engagement tools. Helps sales and market...