The car-hailing app can already claim the richest direct-investment round ever. Recently, it reached a new milestone, raising another $1.2 billion for a total of $2.5 billion raised since it launched in 2009. The latest money was raised at an impressive $40 billion valuation. 

Inc,'s 2014 Company of the Year, Airbnb has raised $800 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and others. The startup is currently valued at $10 billion, but according to recent reports, an upcoming employee stock sale will value the company closer to $13 billion.

More than 25 million users rely on Dropbox to store and access their files. In turn, the service has raised $507 million from investors like Accel Partners and Y Combinator and is currently valued at $10 billion. By comparison, its closest rival, Box, has raised $545 million and is valued at $2.4 billion, not enough to make this list.

The photo-sharing app turned down a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook last year. And it turned out to be one of the best decisions the company could have made. Since then, Snapchat has raised $150 million and attained a valuation of $10 billion.

China's highest-valued company is phone maker Xiaomi, which has raised $347 million and is currently valued at $10 billion. Its cheap but well-designed smartphones and other accessories have made Xiaomi the "most fascinating phone company on the planet."

Co-founded by Peter Thiel, Palantir provides big data software to the CIA and the FBI. With such high-profile clients, the company was once Silicon Valley's best kept secret. Now, it has managed to raise $900 million and is valued at $9.3 billion. 

China's answer to Amazon, giant online retailer Jingdong (JD.com) has raised  $2.2 billion and is valued at $7.3 billion. Could it continue to raise funds and top Alibaba's blockbuster IPO?

A formidable player in mobile payments, Square has raised $495 million. At least $25 million came from Starbucks, which installed the Square payments system in 7,000 of its U.S. locations in 2012. The startup is currently valued at $6 billion. 

The digital scrapbook service has become a staple of the visual Web. After raising $800 million from its committed investors, the startup is currently valued at $5 billion.

For founder Elon Musk, space is the final frontier. His space exploration company has raised $115 million and is valued at $4.8 billion. And for the next 10 years, SpaceX's investment won't be spent on local taxes.

The big data software provider may not be a household name, but it did manage to raise $1.2 billion. A large sum of it, $900 million, came from Intel. Cloudera is currently valued at $4.1 billion.

Taylor Swift may not be a fan, but one of her corporate sponsors, Coca-Cola, is investing in Spotify. The music streaming service has raised a total of $521 million, for a valuation of $4 billion. Not bad for an unprofitable business model.

Fast-growing peer-to-peer lending service Lending Club filed for IPO this year. As of April, the lender's total equity funding consisted of $155 million for a valuation of $3.8 billion.

A pioneer in developing wearable devices, Jawbone has raised $531 million from investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures. The fitness tracker maker is currently valued at $3.3 billion.

The largest online retailer of licensed sportswear, Fanatics sold more than $1 billion worth of merchandise in 2013. Founded in 1995, the e-commerce site survived the dot-com bust and has gone on to raise $320 million. The company's valuation currently sits at $3.1 billion.