Fri, Mar 29, 2024
A A A
Welcome Guest
Free Trial RSS pod
Get FREE trial access to our award winning publications
Industry Updates

The number of unicorn companies jumped to 500, combined market value over $1.5tn

Thursday, November 26, 2020
Opalesque Industry Update - In 2013, when the term unicorn emerged, only 40 private companies had a valuation of one billion dollars in the world. Since then, the number of these financial giants surged, rising to a new record in 2020.

According to data presented by BuyShares.co.nz, the number of unicorn companies hit 500 globally, with a combined market valuation of around $1.5trn.

Almost 90 New Unicorns in 2020

In 2014, 18 companies hit a market valuation of one billion dollars revealed the CBInsights data. Over the next two years, another 138 companies joined the unicorn club.

Statistics show the number of these financial giants surged in 2018, with 114 companies entering the list. The increasing trend continued in 2019, with 122 new unicorns, the highest annual increase so far.

The CBInsights data revealed that 89 companies joined the unicorn club in 2020 with a combined market valuation of $138.7bn, despite the economic effects of the COVID-19 crisis.

Analyzed by geography, the United States represents the leading unicorn market, with 242 companies valued at one billion dollars or more. China ranked second with 119 unicorns as of November.

The United Kingdom ranked as the third-largest unicorn market globally, with 24 companies valued at billion dollars or more. India and Germany follow, with 24 and 23 unicorns, respectively.

The Hurun Research Institute data revealed that Beijing tops the list of the cities with the highest number of unicorns. As of 2020, 93 such startups had their headquarters in the Chinese capital. San Francisco ranked second with 68 unicorns. Shanghai, New York, and Hangzhou follow with 47, 33, and 20 unicorn companies.

Statistics show that most of the world's unicorns or 72 companies, are active in fintech. The software & services segment follows with 65 unicorn companies. Another 62 privately owned startups with a valuation of over one billion dollars are working in the eCommerce market.

Artificial intelligence, mobile and telecommunications market, and the health industry follow with 45, 33, and 31 unicorns, respectively.

Five Largest Unicorns Worth $302bn

The CBInsights data show ByteDance represents the largest unicorn in the world. The Beijing-based company behind short-form video app sensation TikTok reached a $140bn valuation as of September 2020, an 86% increase since the beginning of the year.

With a $62bn market value, Didi Chuxing ranked as the second-largest unicorn globally. The Chinese app-based transportation service provider has more than 550 million users and tens of millions of drivers. The company's services include taxi-hailing, private car-hailing, social ride-sharing, bike-sharing and automobile services, including sales, financing, maintenance, fleet operation, electric vehicle charging, and co-development vehicles with automakers.

Elon Musk's spacecraft company Space X, online payment processing platform Stripe, and travel industry giant Airbnb round the top five list, with a valuation of $46bn, $36bn, and $18bn, respectively.

Article source - Opalesque is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

What do you think?

   Use "anonymous" as my name    |   Alert me via email on new comments   |   
Previous Opalesque Exclusives                                  
Previous Other Voices                                               
Access Alternative Market Briefing

 



  • Top Forwarded
  • Top Tracked
  • Top Searched
  1. KKR raises $6.4bn for the largest pan-Asia infrastructure fund[more]

    Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The New York-based global investment firm KKR has raised a record $6.4bn for its second Asia-focused infrastructure fund, underlining investors' continued appetite for private markets. According to a media release from the alternative assets manager, the figure top

  2. Bucking the trend, top hedge fund makes plans for a second SPAC[more]

    From Institutional Investor: SPACs aren't dead. At least not to the folks at Cormorant Asset Management. The life sciences firm, whose hedge fund topped its peers in 2023, is confident it will match the success of its first blank-check company. Last week, the life sciences and biopharma speciali

  3. Benefit Street Partners closes fifth fund on $4.7 billion[more]

    Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: Benefit Street Partners has closed its fifth flagship direct lending vehicle, BSP Debt Fund V, with $4.7 billion of investable capital across the strategy. Benefit Street invests primarily in privately originated, floating rate, senior secured loans. The fun

  4. 4 hedge fund themes that are working in 2024[more]

    From The Street: A poor earnings report from Tesla (TSLA) has not hurt the indexes on Thursday. The decline in Tesla stock, which is losing its position in the Magnificent Seven pantheon, is more than offset by strong earnings from IBM (IBM) and ServiceNow (NOW) . In addition, the much higher-t

  5. Opalesque Exclusive: A global macro fund eyes opportunities in bonds[more]

    Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York for New Managers: Munich-based ThirdYear Capital rebounded in 2023, following a tough year for global macro. The firm's flagship ART Global Macro strategy finished the year up 1