F
146 companies
Ford Motor Company
Automotive Manufacturing
Ford invented the modern assembly line - and spent a century learning its limitations. From 1900-1970, Ford exemplified industrial centralization: Tay...
Fairfax Financial
Financial Services
Fairfax Financial acquired BlackBerry in 2016 after the company's failed attempt to compete in the smartphone market. The acquisition marked the end o...
Fairphone
Consumer Electronics
Fairphone is mentioned as an example of a company that designed modular smartphones for repairability at the seed stage, which became a core brand dif...
FedEx
Logistics/Delivery
FedEx built a billion-dollar business on costly signaling you can see from your window. Founded by Frederick Smith in 1971 to pioneer overnight packag...
Flipkart
E-commerce
Flipkart commands 48% of India's e-commerce market by gross merchandise value as of mid-2025, outpacing Amazon India's 31%—proof that ecological succe...
Freshworks
SaaS / Enterprise Software
Freshworks represents the climax stage of Bangalore's ecological succession - Indian SaaS unicorns selling globally from India. With a $5B IPO, Freshw...
F.W. Woolworth
Retail
Woolworth's 1997 closure ended the original five-and-dime store concept after 118 years, demonstrating how format pioneers become format victims. The...
F5 Networks
Network Technology
Balances web traffic across server clusters to prevent overload, distributing computational demand like heart muscles that adjust blood flow based on...
Fab.com
E-commerce
Fab.com's collapse from $1 billion valuation to $15 million sale exemplifies startup hype cycles. The design-focused flash sale site grew to $150 mill...
Fabrinet
Electronic Components
Contract manufacturer assembling optical components for telecom networks, routing photonic signals through precision-engineered pathways like xylem co...
Social Media/Technology
Meta reached 3.43 billion daily active users across its family of apps in early 2025, yet its market cap ballooned to over $1 trillion not through use...
Factorial
Technology
HR software automating payroll and benefits across distributed workforces, synchronizing administrative rhythms like circadian clocks coordinating cel...
FactSet Research Systems Inc.
Financial Services
Financial data platform aggregating market information into analyst workstations, operating like mycorrhizal networks that gather dispersed nutrients...
Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO)
Financial Software
Fair Isaac Corporation provides analytics software and services for decision management, including the FICO credit scoring system. The company helps b...
Fairchild Semiconductor
Semiconductors
Pioneering semiconductor company founded in 1957 by the 'traitorous eight' that became the monocarpic parent of Silicon Valley's semiconductor industr...
Faire
E-commerce
B2B wholesale marketplace connecting independent retailers with brands and makers. Offers net-60 payment terms and free returns to retailers. Valued a...
Fairway Market
Retail - Grocery
Fairway Market's 2020 liquidation ended a New York grocery institution after private equity expansion destroyed what made it special. The company had...
Falabella
Retail
South American retail conglomerate spreading across department stores, home improvement, and banking like an adaptive radiation filling multiple ecolo...
Falstaff Brewing Corporation
Beverages
Falstaff's 1990 closure ended a brewery that was once America's third-largest. The company had expanded through acquisition in the 1950s-60s but could...
FamilyMart
Convenience Retail
Japanese convenience chain deploying thousands of identical storefronts across Asia, replicating standardized formats like aspen groves cloning geneti...
Fanatics
E-commerce
Fanatics generated $8.1 billion in revenue in 2024 (+15% year-over-year), targeting $13 billion by 2026, while expanding from merchandise ($6.2 billio...
FanDuel Group
Gaming & Entertainment
Sports betting platform where users stake resources on uncertain outcomes, exhibiting risk-sensitive foraging strategies as they balance potential rew...
Fannie Mae (Bailout)
Mortgage Finance
Fannie Mae's 2008 government takeover demonstrates how implicit government guarantees create moral hazard that eventually requires explicit bailout. T...
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...
Farfetch (Crisis)
Retail
Farfetch, the luxury fashion marketplace, collapsed 97% from peak and required emergency rescue by Coupang in 2023. The company had tried to be both p...
Farmers Edge
Agricultural Technology
Precision agriculture platform optimizing fertilizer application through satellite data, allocating resources with the efficiency of fungal networks d...
Farmland Partners Inc.
Farmland Real Estate
REIT acquiring Midwestern cropland and leasing it back to operators, extracting value from productive soil like nitrogen-fixing bacteria trading nutri...
FarmLogs
Agricultural Technology
Agricultural software tracking field conditions and crop yields, sensing environmental signals like plant roots detecting soil nutrients through chemi...
Fast (Checkout)
Fintech
Fast raised $120M to create a one-click checkout button, then collapsed in 2022 after burning $10M per month with minimal revenue. The company's CAC w...
Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. (Uniqlo)
Retail & Apparel
Fast Retailing posted 3.4 trillion yen revenue in FY2025 ($22.2 billion, +9.7% from 3.1 trillion FY2024), with net income surging 16.39% and operating...
Fastenal
Industrial Distribution
Industrial distributor stocking fasteners and supplies across thousands of on-site bins, caching inventory near consumption points like squirrels hidi...
Fastly
Cloud Infrastructure
Edge computing network caching content at geographic perimeters, reducing latency by storing copies near users like muscle cells stockpiling ATP for i...
Fastned
EV Charging Infrastructure
Dutch charging network installing high-power stations along motorways, creating energy oases like desert waterholes that attract migrating populations...
Fate Therapeutics
Biotechnology
Cell therapy developer programming immune cells to attack tumors, redirecting natural killer instincts like parasitoid wasps reprogrammed to target sp...
Fatshark
Gaming
Swedish game studio known for Warhammer titles and cooperative combat, building player communities through repeated coordinated attacks like wolf pack...
Faurecia
Automotive
Automotive supplier manufacturing seats and emission systems, embedding components into vehicle architectures like endosymbiotic mitochondria integrat...
FAW Group Corporation
Automotive
Manufactures vehicles through assembly lines where components converge into finished products, resembling embryonic development where differentiated t...
FaZe Clan
Esports
Esports collective where viral content creators swarm together, amplifying reach through synchronized social media bursts and cross-platform migration...
FCC
Infrastructure
Builds infrastructure from highways to airports, creating transport networks that shape how populations and resources flow across landscapes like ecos...
FDX Corporation (Quepasa)
Technology
FDX Corp's 2001 collapse illustrates how tech companies can implode when business models prove entirely fictional. The company claimed revolutionary l...
Federal Realty Investment Trust
Retail Real Estate
Shopping center REIT maintaining anchor tenants and specialty retailers in curated arrangements, structuring competitive dynamics like coral reefs org...
Federated Hermes
Asset Management
Asset manager deploying capital across bond and equity funds, diversifying holdings to buffer volatility like mixed-species flocks reducing predation...
FEMSA
Beverages & Retail
Distributes beverages across Latin America through retail chains and bottling plants, moving products from production to consumption like circulatory...
Fendi
Luxury Fashion
When LVMH's fashion division shed 3% of revenue in 2024, declining to €41 billion, the group's Tier 1 brands faced what happens when the alpha's posit...
Fendt
Agricultural Equipment
German tractor manufacturer engineering high-horsepower machines for large-scale farming, applying concentrated mechanical force like elephants using...
Fenty Beauty
Beauty & Personal Care
Cosmetics brand launching with 40 foundation shades, matching diverse skin tones like polymorphic butterflies expressing varied wing patterns to suit...
Ferguson
Distribution
Ferguson operates the industrial economy's mycorrhizal network: 1,700+ locations connecting manufacturers to 35,000 contractors who need plumbing and...
Ferragamo
Luxury
Luxury fashion house signaling exclusivity through price and scarcity, displaying costly craftsmanship like peacocks bearing metabolically expensive t...
Ferrari
Automotive/Luxury
Italian luxury sports car manufacturer that exemplifies costly signaling strategy. Ferrari deliberately caps production at 10,000 units annually despi...
Ferrero Group
Food Products
Italian confectioner protecting Nutella and Kinder formulas while expanding globally, guarding trade secrets like acacia trees producing toxins to def...
Ferrovial
Infrastructure
Ferrovial generated €3.2 billion in net profit during 2024—not from building infrastructure, but from owning it. The Spanish multinational operates to...
Fervo Energy
Geothermal Energy
Geothermal startup drilling deep wells to tap Earth's heat, harvesting underground thermal energy like thermophilic bacteria metabolizing volcanic war...
FGL Holdings
Insurance
Manages insurance portfolios by collecting premiums and paying claims, pooling risk across populations like herd immunity where individual exposure de...
Fiat
Automotive
Italian automaker cycling through ownership changes and brand partnerships, merging with competitors like horizontal gene transfer spreading adaptive...
Fidelity National Financial
Title Insurance
Title insurance provider verifying property ownership before transactions, preventing defects like immune systems screening cells for foreign markers...
Fidelity National Information Services
IT Services
Payment processor routing trillions in transactions through secure channels, conducting financial flows like cardiovascular systems pumping blood thro...
Fifth Third Bancorp
Banking
Regional bank extending credit and accepting deposits across Midwest branches, storing and distributing capital like bone marrow producing blood cells...
Figma
Design Software
Figma launched in 2015 with browser-based design tools when Adobe owned professional design through decades of desktop software dominance. Adobe's leg...
Figure AI
Robotics
Humanoid robotics startup training bipedal machines for warehouse work, replicating human morphology like convergent evolution producing dolphin and i...
Fincantieri
Manufacturing
Italian shipbuilder constructing naval vessels and cruise ships through modular assembly. Each hull section grows like segmented chitin plates, welded...
FinecoBank
Banking
Italian online bank that stripped away physical branches to operate purely digital. Trading platform processes thousands of retail orders daily throug...
Finless Foods
Cellular Agriculture
Cultured seafood company growing fish muscle cells in bioreactors without harvesting live animals. Cells multiply in nutrient media, building protein...
Fireblocks
Crypto Custody
Digital asset custody platform securing cryptocurrency transfers through multi-party computation. Private keys split across nodes, requiring threshold...
Firmenich
Flavors & Fragrances
Swiss fragrance and flavor house blending thousands of aromatic molecules for consumer products. Perfumers combine volatile compounds in specific rati...
First Abu Dhabi Bank
Banking
Emirate financial institution formed by merging National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank. Combined entity pools capital reserves and branch netw...
First Advantage
Human Resources Technology
Background screening firm processing employment checks through automated database queries. Algorithms search criminal records, credit histories, and v...
First American Financial
Title Insurance
First American Financial Corporation provides title insurance and settlement services to the real estate industry. The company offers title insurance...
First Bancorp
Regional Banking
Puerto Rico banking corporation extending credit and deposit services across Caribbean territories. Branch network connects island communities through...
First Bank of Nigeria
Banking
Nigerian commercial bank operating over 750 branches across West Africa. Mobile banking platform reaches customers beyond physical infrastructure thro...
First Busey Corporation
Regional Banking
Illinois-based bank holding company serving communities through relationship banking. Loan officers assess local borrowers, building knowledge of regi...
First Business Financial Services
Commercial Banking
Wisconsin commercial bank specializing in business clients and medical professionals. Focused lending builds expertise in equipment financing and prac...
First Commonwealth Financial
Regional Banking
Pennsylvania bank corporation operating community branches across mid-Atlantic states. Regional focus maintains local decision-making while sharing ba...
First Financial Bancorp
Regional Banking
Ohio-based regional bank formed through serial acquisitions of smaller community banks. Integration teams merge core systems while preserving local br...
First Financial Bankshares
Regional Banking
First Financial Bankshares is a financial holding company operating through its subsidiary, First Financial Bank, in Texas. The company provides comme...
First Horizon
Regional Banking
Tennessee regional bank expanding from Memphis roots into southeastern markets. Wealth management and mortgage origination supplement commercial lendi...
First Industrial Realty Trust
Industrial Real Estate
Industrial warehouse REIT leasing distribution facilities to e-commerce and logistics tenants. Properties cluster near transportation nodes where supp...
First Merchants Corporation
Regional Banking
Indiana bank corporation serving communities through relationship-focused banking. Decentralized lending authority lets branch managers approve loans...
First Mid Bancshares
Regional Banking
Illinois-based bank holding company operating under regional brand names. Insurance and wealth management divisions cross-sell to core banking custome...
First Republic Bank
Banking
First Republic's May 2023 seizure and sale to JPMorgan made it the second-largest bank failure ever and third in two months. The bank served wealthy c...
First Solar
Solar
Thin-film photovoltaic manufacturer depositing cadmium telluride layers onto glass substrates. Automated production lines coat panels in sequence, bui...
FirstCash Holdings
Financial Services
Pawn shop operator extending small-dollar loans secured by customer merchandise. Items remain in storage until redemption or auction, collateral value...
FirstEnergy
Utilities
Electric utility transmitting power across Mid-Atlantic and Midwest grids. Coal and nuclear baseload plants feed high-voltage lines connecting million...
FirstRand
Financial Services
FirstRand's structure embodies functional redundancy. The group operates First National Bank (retail/commercial), Rand Merchant Bank (corporate/invest...
FIS (Fidelity National Information Services)
Fintech
Processes financial transactions through global payment networks, routing money between accounts like neural synapses that transmit electrochemical si...
Fiserv, Inc.
Fintech
Financial services technology firm processing billions of electronic payments and transactions. Core banking software runs on servers in regional data...
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare
Healthcare & Medical Devices
New Zealand appliance manufacturer designing washers and refrigerators with direct-drive motors. SmartDrive technology eliminates transmission compone...
Fisker Automotive
Automotive
Fisker Automotive (the first one) collapsed in 2013, burning through $1.4 billion including $529 million in federal loans. The company outsourced ever...
Fisker Inc
Automotive
Fisker's 2024 bankruptcy marked Henrik Fisker's second failed attempt at electric vehicles. After Fisker Automotive's 2013 collapse, he returned with...
Fisker Inc.
Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicle startup designing luxury SUVs with sustainable interior materials. Ocean model enters production with contract manufacturer handling...
Fisker Inc. (2024)
Automotive - Electric
Fisker Inc.'s 2024 bankruptcy ended the second attempt by Henrik Fisker to build an EV company. The Ocean SUV launched but quality problems, dealer ne...
Fitbit
Consumer Electronics
Wearable fitness tracker measuring heart rate, steps, and sleep through body sensors. Accelerometers detect motion patterns while optical sensors puls...
Five Below
Retail
Discount retailer selling trend-driven products at $5 price point to teen customers. Buyers source directly from manufacturers, eliminating middlemen...
Five Guys
Restaurants
Burger chain cooking fresh patties to order on flat-top griddles. No freezers in stores, only refrigerated beef and hand-cut potatoes transformed thro...
Five9
Software
Cloud contact center software routing customer calls through algorithms that match inquiries to agent skills. Voice streams flow through data centers...
Fiverr
Technology & Marketplace
Freelance marketplace connecting buyers with gig workers offering digital services. Search algorithms match project requirements to seller portfolios,...
Fivetran
Data Integration
Data pipeline company extracting information from SaaS applications into warehouses. Connectors replicate database changes continuously, maintaining s...
Flagstar Bancorp
Regional Banking
Michigan bank operating as wholesale mortgage lender and retail branch network. Correspondent lending buys loans from other originators, aggregating v...
Flatiron Health
Healthcare Services
Oncology technology company organizing cancer treatment data to accelerate research and improve patient care through real-world evidence analytics.
Flatiron School
Education
Coding bootcamp offering immersive software engineering and data science programs designed to launch tech careers through intensive hands-on training.
FleetCor Technologies
IT Services
Payment solutions provider specializing in fuel cards, tolls, and corporate payments, processing billions of transactions annually for fleet operators...
Fleming Companies
Wholesale
Fleming Companies' 2003 bankruptcy collapsed America's largest food wholesaler. The company distributed groceries to independent supermarkets competin...
Fletcher Building
Construction & Building Materials
New Zealand construction company manufacturing building materials and managing large infrastructure projects across residential and commercial sectors...
Flexport
Logistics
Third-party logistics (3PL) provider specializing in international shipping and freight forwarding with customs handling. Recommended for companies ne...
Flink
Delivery & Logistics
German rapid grocery delivery startup promising groceries in minutes through dense networks of micro-fulfillment centers in urban neighborhoods.
Flipgrid
EdTech - K-12
Video discussion platform for classrooms enabling student engagement through short video responses, fostering participation from shy learners.
FlixBus
Transportation
European intercity bus service operating through franchised drivers and dynamic pricing, disrupting traditional coach travel with tech-enabled booking...
Floor & Decor Holdings
Home Improvement Retail
Specialty retailer of hard surface flooring offering warehouse-style stores with extensive in-stock selection for contractors and homeowners.
Flooz.com
Digital Currency / E-commerce
Flooz.com's 2001 collapse demonstrated that digital currency concepts predated cryptocurrency by a decade—and failed for reasons blockchain enthusiast...
Flotek Industries
Oil & Gas Services
Oilfield technology company developing chemistry solutions for drilling and completion operations, specializing in complex nano-fluid applications.
Flour Mills of Nigeria
Food Processing
Food production conglomerate processing wheat, sugar, and pasta while distributing consumer goods across West Africa through integrated supply chains.
Flowers Foods
Food Products
Bakery company producing and distributing packaged bread and buns under brands like Nature's Own and Wonder through direct-store-delivery routes.
Flowserve Corporation
Industrial Conglomerate
Industrial equipment manufacturer producing pumps, valves, and seals for critical flow control applications in oil, gas, power, and chemical processin...
Fluence Energy
Energy Storage
Energy storage technology provider deploying battery systems and software for grid stabilization, integrating renewable power at utility scale.
Fluor Corporation
Construction & Engineering
Engineering and construction firm delivering complex projects in energy, chemicals, mining, and infrastructure with global execution capabilities.
Fly.io
Cloud Infrastructure
Edge computing platform running applications close to users worldwide by distributing containers across global data centers, minimizing latency.
Flybe
Airlines
Flybe's 2020 collapse just weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated how marginal businesses die first in crises. The UK regional airline had been...
FMC Corporation
Chemicals
Produces agricultural chemicals that target pests while minimizing crop damage, functioning like immune systems that distinguish self from non-self to...
FNB Corporation
Regional Banking
Channels deposits into loans for regional businesses and homeowners, recycling capital through local economies like nutrient cycles that move resource...
Forever 21
Retail - Fast Fashion
Forever 21's 2019 bankruptcy was unexpected for a fast fashion retailer that had seemed to understand millennial and Gen Z consumers. The company oper...
Fortescue Metals Group
Mining & Resources
Fortescue demonstrates metabolic pragmatism at industrial scale. The world's fourth-largest iron ore producer ships 198 million tonnes annually from W...
Fortinet
Cybersecurity
Vertical integration through custom silicon: Fortinet's proprietary ASICs deliver 5-10x better firewall performance than competitors while reducing po...
Fortum Corporation
Energy & Utilities
Fortum's €5.8 billion energy business demonstrates strategic pruning: divesting Uniper (2023) to focus on CO2-free baseload generation across Finland,...
Forward Air Corporation
Freight & Logistics
Forward Air is a provider of time-definite surface transportation and related logistics services to the North American expedited ground freight market...
Forward Health
Healthcare
Forward raised $225M for AI-powered primary care clinics with futuristic pods and body scanning. The company shut down in 2024 when unit economics pro...
Founders Fund
Venture Capital
Most venture capitalists hunt in packs, chasing the same deals with the same thesis. Founders Fund operates like an orca—an apex predator that targets...
Foxconn
Electronics Manufacturing
Taiwanese electronics manufacturer that was a pioneer-phase colonizer of Shenzhen in 1988. Foxconn's arrival marked the beginning of Shenzhen's transf...
FPT Corporation
Technology Services
Provides IT services and telecommunications across Vietnam through distributed offices, creating information networks that connect remote locations li...
Francesca's
Retail
Francesca's December 2020 bankruptcy collapsed the women's boutique chain after a decade of decline. The company had grown to 700 stores selling affor...
Franklin Financial Network
Regional Banking
Franklin Financial Network is a bank holding company operating through Franklin Synergy Bank in Tennessee and surrounding markets. The company provide...
Freddie Mac (Bailout)
Mortgage Finance
Freddie Mac's 2008 government takeover alongside Fannie Mae demonstrates how competitive pressure between GSEs amplified risk-taking. Each entity took...
Freightos Limited
Freight & Logistics
Freightos operates a digital freight booking and payment platform connecting international shippers with freight forwarders and carriers. The company...
Fresenius
Healthcare
Colonial organisms achieve complexity through specialized polyps performing distinct functions—feeding, defense, reproduction—while sharing a connecte...
Fresenius Medical Care
Healthcare
Your kidneys filter 180 liters of blood daily, reabsorbing 99% while excreting 2 liters of waste. When they fail, homeostasis collapses within days. F...
Freshly (Shutdown)
Food
Freshly, the prepared meal delivery service acquired by Nestle for $950M, was shut down in 2023 after Nestle concluded the unit economics couldn't wor...
Fresnillo
Mining
The world's largest primary silver producer operates like a specialized metabolic pathway optimized for precious metal extraction. Eight Mexican mines...
Friendly's
Restaurants - Family Dining
Friendly's repeated bankruptcies (2011, 2020) illustrate how organisms can enter extinction spirals where each near-death leaves them weaker. The New...
Friendster
Social Media
Friendster's decline from social network pioneer to footnote demonstrates how first-mover advantage can be squandered. Technical failures during growt...
Frontier Airlines (2008)
Aviation
Frontier Airlines' 2008 bankruptcy collapsed a Denver-based carrier competing against United's hub dominance. The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2...
Frontier Communications (Bankruptcy)
Telecommunications
Frontier's 2020 bankruptcy after acquiring Verizon's landlines demonstrates how legacy telecom assets can be poisoned pills. The rural carrier bought...
Frontier Group Holdings (Frontier Airlines)
Airlines
Frontier Group Holdings is the parent company of Frontier Airlines, an ultra-low-cost carrier serving destinations throughout the United States and in...
Fry's Electronics
Electronics Retail
Fry's Electronics' February 2021 closure ended a 36-year-old chain that had been beloved by tech enthusiasts for its warehouse-style stores with theme...
FTI Consulting
Consulting
Advises companies during financial crises and restructuring, diagnosing organizational dysfunction and prescribing corrections like stress responses t...
FTX
Cryptocurrency
FTX's 2022 collapse from $32 billion to bankruptcy in 10 days represents the fastest destruction of institutional value in history. Sam Bankman-Fried'...
Fujifilm
Imaging/Healthcare
Japanese company cited as successful reinvention example alongside Nokia and IBM. When film photography declined, Fujifilm didn't attempt to regenerat...
Fujitsu Limited
Information Technology
Fujitsu is a leading IT services and solutions provider offering computing products, telecommunications equipment, and business consulting. The compan...
Fulton Financial Corporation
Regional Banking
Fulton Financial is a financial holding company operating through its banking subsidiaries in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Virgin...