CircleUp Named To Fast Company's Annual List Of The World's Most Innovative Companies For 2019

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CircleUp, the investment platform providing capital and resources to consumer brands, has been named to Fast Company's annual list of the World's Most Innovative Companies for 2019. The list features the businesses making the most profound impact on both industry and culture, showcasing a variety of ways to thrive in today's volatile world. CircleUp was honored as one of the World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Data Science.

CircleUp was recognized for the advancements made to its proprietary technology–Helio–that finds, classifies, and evaluates a universe of 1.4 million (and growing) companies across more than 200 sources to shine a light on breakout brands. In 2018, CircleUp had a number of remarkable breakthroughs in developing Helio and in scaling its capital solutions for brands. CircleUp's capital solutions––CircleUp Growth Partners and CircleUp Credit Advisors––as well as its Insights team are powered by Helio. As a result of the advancements in Helio's horsepower, CircleUp is making significant strides towards its mission to help entrepreneurs thrive by providing them with the capital and resources needed.

The growth of Helio's capabilities also represent a significant step towards the future of data-driven investing. With Helio, CircleUp takes a quantitative approach to investing in entrepreneurs. By proactively monitoring the universe of consumer companies, Helio can mitigate unconscious bias or geographic constraints and respond to data-driven signals of success, rewarding promising entrepreneurs effectively and efficiently. The advancements made in 2018 with Helio also enabled CircleUp to lay the groundwork towards its future vision: a systematic investing fund, applying the innovations of systematic investing in the public markets to the private markets. With Helio, CircleUp will have the inputs to reshape private investing and the vision to create a transparent and efficient market that drives innovation.

"We are honored to be among this incredible list of companies and thankful that Fast Company recognizes those who are truly breaking ground and challenging the status quo," said Ryan Caldbeck, co-founder and CEO of CircleUp. "Early-stage investing is a notoriously opaque industry, but we see an opportunity with Helio to bring forward a more transparent and equitable capital market as well as unlock insights for entrepreneurs."

This year, Fast Company's editors and writers sought out groundbreaking businesses across 35 industries and every region. "Established players are showing the same kind of nimbleness that we've generally associated with startups," said Fast Company Deputy Editor David Lidsky, who oversaw the issue with Senior Editor Amy Farley.

The World's Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company's signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides both a snapshot and a roadmap for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy.

About CircleUp
On a mission to help entrepreneurs thrive, CircleUp harnesses the power of data to provide capital and resources to emerging consumer brands. Through Helio, the company's technology platform that identifies, classifies, and evaluates consumer and retail companies, CircleUp has built the world's most robust repository of CPG and retail intelligence and takes a quantitative approach to investing in promising entrepreneurs.

Founded in 2012, CircleUp is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by Union Square Ventures, GV, Canaan Partners, QED Advisors, and others. Learn more at www.circleup.com

About Fast Company
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.

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