Rewards app Ibotta ($PRIVATE:IBOTTA) is worth a lotta money - the Denver-based startup cemented unicorn status earlier this week and has the alternative data trends to match, including massive workforce growth, app ratings, and growing social traction. 

For a while now, the company has been scaling up - as its job postings show. Job postings have risen 45% this year alone.

A look at the next chart proves that the company's scale is for real - Ibotta doubled headcount since 2017, according to the number of staffers who affiliate their current employer as the company on LinkedIn ($MSFT), and grew 13% so far in 2019. 

Ibotta reeled in a nine-figure funding round led by Koch Industries' ($PRIVATE:KOCHinvesting arm earlier this week and will use it to continue staffing up - so it's likely both of the charts above will continue to reflect growth. 

But the company, which provides people phone-based rewards to use with e-commerce sites and legacy brick-and-mortar retailers alike, has been enticing users onto its platform at hyper-speed - reportedly hitting the 20-million-download-mark. Our Apple App Store Count, the next metric, reflects nearly three-fold growth over the course of the year.

The primary marketing behind Ibotta is that utilizing the app to draw up-to-date discounts from top shopping and e-commerce companies saves consumers money. In fact, it's saved them more than a half-billion bucks, which we can track with our App Traction Data. In this case, it follows how much cash is saved by Ibotta users, which has steadily grown in 2019. 

Last but not least is Ibotta's social data - and even here, Ibotta has a lotta clout. The company's Facebook ($FB) Talking About Count reflects continued engagement - leading right up to its unicorn-status fundraising. 

About the Data: 

Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

Further Reading: