In a year in which Apple seemed fated to soon become the world's first trillion-dollar company, maybe it isn't surprising that tech startups were blasting past billion-dollar valuations.
Huge numbers quoted for companies with almost zero monetization or profits inevitably evoked talk of a bubble and knowing references to 2000. Things have changed a bit in 14 years though. Thanks to smartphones, you can now go global very quickly. An oligopoly of about a half-dozen companies -- Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, etc. -- has made bidding wars common.
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Still, the run-up in valuations in 2014 was staggering. Here's a rundown of a few startups that really took off over the past year.
Update: Since this graphic was created, Uber's reported valuation has jumped to $40 billion.
BONUS: What Is Uber?