#22 Acorns - The Wall Street Journal set out to identify companies that show signs of becoming emerging leaders. A data analysis assessed their founders' experience, investor track record, amount of investments raised, growth of workforce and buzz about the company. These five factors were given an equal weighting to calculate a maximum score of 100.

A secretive robotics startup has raised a new round of venture funding as part of its quest to replace humans with robots in the kitchens of fast-food restaurants. Momentum Machines secured over $18 million in financing, according to a SEC filing in May. The startup has generated investments from top VC firms Google Ventures and Khosla Ventures in the past.

Wireless networking startup Eero was founded on the premise of providing “WiFi that works.” With easy setup and the ability to boost your signal by just adding more WiFi stations, Eero introduced a new category of wireless mesh networking products to market. But since there are now multiple WiFi mesh competitors out there, Eero can’t afford to be left behind. With that in mind, the company is announcing two new hardware products for consumers and additional security features users can subscribe to.

GENERALLY SPEAKING, YOUR router has one job: keep those internet juices flowin'. When Eero launched its mesh router, it made waves by stringing multiple devices together so that your Wi-Fi could reach more places in your home and run more quickly. The concept of "mesh networking" took off and soon, everyone else copied the idea. Now even Netgear and Linksys want to sell you a three-part mesh system. Your Wi-Fi options are better and faster than ever, but Eero lost its advantage.

INVESTOPEDIA - Robots capable of churning out 400 hamburgers in an hour could one day become a permanent fixture across fast food chains. Momentum Machines, the Google (GOOGL) backed startup that specializes in building these high-tech, artificial intelligence-powered devices, has just secured over $18 million of new venture capital, according to an SEC filing.

At 24, Jack Abraham sold his first company, Milo.com, to eBay for $75 million. He’d dropped out of his Wharton undergrad program two years earlier to start the website, where consumers could hunt down merchandise at their local brick-and-mortar retailers. After the sale in 2010, he joined eBay’s staff, before shifting to a consulting role and making angel investments in companies like Pinterest and Postmates. Then in early 2013 he

Silicon Valley investors are starting to take the mental health of start-up executives quite seriously. Venture firms including Refactor Capital and Slow Ventures have agreed to pick up the tab for portfolio company founders to get an initial visit to a therapist. They're offering an option via a startup called Kip, which provides a curated list of therapists online. Once users book a session, they see the therapist in-person. Kip is currently available in San Francisco. Erin Frey, the company's founder, said Kip wants to work with entrepreneurs to demonstrate the benefits of mental health services.

Rinse CEO Ajay Prakash discusses the vision and system behind Rinse's SMS interface to make scheduling dry cleaning pickup and dropoff seamless while on stage with Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson at Twilio's SIGNAL Developer Conference

Bryan Leach pulls several receipts from his leather wallet and excitedly spreads them on the table as if he just discovered a pirate’s map of buried treasure. Few people, especially Yale Law School grads who have clerked for a Supreme Court justice, are this passionate about paper receipts. “I just have them because I test all the time,” said Leach, CEO and founder of Ibotta, one of nation’s most popular mobile retail apps. He takes a picture of a Walmart receipt using the newly revamped Ibotta app and all items are automatically scanned. That makes it easier and faster for users to get cash rebates credited to their accounts. No clipping coupons. No need to verify purchases by also scanning a product’s barcode, which had been Ibotta’s modus operandi for years. (Skipping barcode verification is being slowly rolled out to more stores.)

Can you improve on something that's already close to perfect? That's what I wondered after Allbirds last month debuted a new shoe, the $95 loafer-style "Wool Loungers." When I reviewed the original $95 “Wool Runners,” last year, I was charmed by the New Zealand wool sneakers' look and feel. And I've continued to get tons of unsolicited compliments from strangers on them since. I'm not the only one in their thrall. Over the last year, Silicon Valley startup founders and venture capitalists have

What do people actually want in luggage? A phone charger, unbreakable exterior, and maximum packing space at a resonable price is what Away discovered. So it built a line of sleek but expansive polycarbonite suitcases equipped with battery packs, and sold them direct-to-consumer. Now after selling nearly 100,000 suitcases and generating $20 million in revenue, Away has raised a $20 million Series B led by existing investor Global Founders Capital plus Forerunner Ventures, Comcast Ventues, and Accel

Travel-gear startup Away is expanding its brick-and-mortar presence, an increasingly common business strategy for e-commerce ventures. Like Warby Parker, where some of the company’s founders previously worked, Away has a direct-to-consumer sales approach. After shipping 100,000 suitcases since February 2016, the company is gearing up to expand into other travel-related goods. To fuel those capital-intensive efforts, Away said it has raised $20 million in a Series B funding from existing investors. Global Founders Capital, which led the company’s Series A less than a year