How does scoring work?
People price shares not based on what they think their fundamental value is, but rather on what they think everyone else thinks their value is.
Since this game features only private companies and we don't know what their fundamental value is anyway, we apply Keynes's idea: when you choose a company, you decide "how much you think it should be worth". Every month, we look at the average estimated value for each company. The closer your valuation to this average was, the more points.
We then balance this with the popularity of the companies you chose.
A company is missing. Why?
There are hundreds of thousands of startups. If we add all of them, the game won't work well (we won't get enough valuations). So I had to limit their number. I made a selection based on various criteria. But I probably missed some.
Don't hesitate to suggest companies yourself. Each new company needs 3 upvotes from the community and it gets added to the game.
Where do valuations come from?
Some startups disclose their valuations when they raise funds.
When this data is not available, we apply an average multiplier to their total funding to date.
Then, after each game period and if enough players picked a company, its valuation becomes the average value estimated by all the players.
Normal vs Advanced league
If you know the startup ecosystem well and you want to bet on earlier stages, you can build a portfolio featuring only companies with a valuation below $250m. If you do, you will automatically get promoted to the "advanced league".
Note that by doing so, you are not excluded from the normal league - you get to play in both leagues.