  This study demonstrates that web-search traffic information, in particular,
Google Trends data, is a credible novel source of high-quality and
easy-to-access data for analyzing technology-based new ventures (TBNVs) growth
trajectories. Utilizing the diverse sample of 241 US-based TBNVs, we
comparatively analyze the relationship between companies' evolution curves
represented by search activity on the one hand and by valuations achieved
through rounds of venture investments on another. The results suggest that
TBNV's growth dynamics are positively and strongly correlated with its web
search traffic across the sample. This correlation is more robust when a
company is a) more successful (in terms of valuation achieved) - especially if
it is a "unicorn"; b) consumer-oriented (i.e., b2c); and 3) develops products
in the form of a digital platform. Further analysis based on fuzzy-set
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) shows that for the most successful
companies ("unicorns") and consumer-oriented digital platforms (i.e., b2c
digital platform companies) proposed approach may be extremely reliable, while
for other high-growth TBNVs it is useful for analyzing their growth dynamics,
albeit to a more limited degree. The proposed methodological approach opens a
wide range of possibilities for analyzing, researching and predicting the
growth of recently formed growth-oriented companies, in practice and academia.
