Uptake's profile as a thriving tech startup continues to rise.
Chicago-based Uptake landed at No. 5 on CNBC's annual Disruptor 50 List, a ranking of private companies that are "changing the world." It placed behind Airbnb, Lyft, WeWork and Asian ride-sharing startup Grab, and it ranked ahead of well-known tech juggernauts like Uber, SpaceX, Pinterest, Dropbox and Palantir.
Uptake, a predictive analytics startup that helps companies in industries like construction and rail operate more efficiently by using data to predict when their machines will fail, was launched in 2014 by Groupon co-founder Brad Keywell. The startup has raised more than $140 million and is valued at over $2 billion.
Uptake is the fastest US startup to a $2 billion valuation, according to Pitchbook.
The startup keeps its customers close to the vest, having only publicly announced two: Caterpillar and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Energy. Uptake helps Caterpillar with predictive machine maintenance, and offers similar services to Berkshire subsidiaries MidAmerican Energy Company and BHE Renewables.
CNBC's Disruptor 50, now in its 5th year, was crafted based on quantitative and qualitative metrics including VC funding and "off-the-record information on sales and user growth."
"Uptake is leading a new category of enterprise software by delivering industry-specific predictive insights – resulting in increased uptime, improved productivity and enhanced safety – leveraging a common platform," Keywell said in a statement. "We sell outcomes, and we do it with a speed rarely seen in the world of software."
Uptake isn't the first Chicago company to crack CNBC's Disruptor 50. Artificial intelligence startup Narrative Science made the list in 2015 at No. 46.
