Since 1960, innovative startups have transformed how we live, work, and connect. StarList highlights companies that have disrupted industries, created new technologies, and shaped our modern world.
Impactful Companies By Decade
1910s
IBM
Founded in 1911
Founders: Charles Ranlett Flint
Pioneered computing technology and business solutions
1930s
Toyota
Founded in 1937
Founders: Kiichiro Toyoda
Revolutionized automotive manufacturing with lean production
Samsung
Founded in 1938
Founders: Lee Byung-chul
Transformed consumer electronics and semiconductor industry
1940s
Sony
Founded in 1946
Founders: Masaru Ibuka, Akio Morita
Transformed consumer electronics and entertainment
1960s
Intel
Founded in 1968
Founders: Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore
Pioneered microprocessor technology
Reliance Industries
Founded in 1966
Founders: Dhirubhai Ambani
Transformed India's petrochemical, telecommunications, and retail sectors
1970s
Apple
Founded in 1976
Founders: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne
Revolutionized personal computing, smartphones, and consumer electronics
Microsoft
Founded in 1975
Founders: Bill Gates, Paul Allen
Pioneered personal computer software and operating systems
1980s
Adobe
Founded in 1982
Founders: John Warnock, Charles Geschke
Revolutionized digital content creation and document management
1990s
Amazon
Founded in 1994
Founders: Jeff Bezos
Transformed e-commerce and cloud computing with AWS
Founded in 1998
Founders: Larry Page, Sergey Brin
Revolutionized internet search and digital advertising
Netflix
Founded in 1997
Founders: Reed Hastings, Marc Randolph
Transformed entertainment streaming and content production
Nvidia
Founded in 1993
Founders: Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, Curtis Priem
Pioneered GPU computing and revolutionized AI acceleration
Salesforce
Founded in 1999
Founders: Marc Benioff, Parker Harris
Pioneered cloud-based customer relationship management
2000s
Founded in 2004
Founders: Mark Zuckerberg
Changed social networking and digital connectivity
Tesla
Founded in 2003
Founders: Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning (Elon Musk joined in 2004)
Accelerated electric vehicle adoption and sustainable energy
Uber
Founded in 2009
Founders: Travis Kalanick, Garrett Camp
Revolutionized transportation and gig economy
SpaceX
Founded in 2002
Founders: Elon Musk
Pioneered reusable rockets and commercial space travel
Airbnb
Founded in 2008
Founders: Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, Nathan Blecharczyk
Revolutionized the hospitality industry with peer-to-peer lodging
Spotify
Founded in 2006
Founders: Daniel Ek, Martin Lorentzon
Transformed music streaming and distribution
GitHub
Founded in 2008
Founders: Tom Preston-Werner, Chris Wanstrath, P.J. Hyett, Scott Chacon
Transformed software development collaboration and open source contributions
Founded in 2002
Founders: Reid Hoffman, Eric Ly, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Allen Blue, Konstantin Guericke, Victor Lychagov
Transformed professional networking and career development
2010s
OpenAI
Founded in 2015
Founders: Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, John Schulman, Wojciech Zaremba
Revolutionized artificial intelligence with breakthroughs in large language models and generative AI
Jio Platforms
Founded in 2019
Founders: Mukesh Ambani
Revolutionized telecommunications in India with affordable 4G data and digital services
2020s
Anthropic
Founded in 2021
Founders: Dario Amodei, Daniela Amodei
Pioneered responsible AI development with constitutional AI approach