USA Ranks Among Top Countries for Unicorn Startups in the World
Known as ‘unicorns’ for their rarity, there are currently only 779 such unicorn businesses in the world as of August 2021, according to CB Insights. Their total cumulative valuation is $2,505B.
Interested in learning more about these businesses, Money.co.uk set out to find out which countries and sectors produce the start-ups that reach a $1 billion valuation fastest by analyzing every unicorn company’s start date and the date of its $1 billion valuation.
Turns out China is best country in the world for unicorn start-ups, with the US producing the most unicorn businesses.
Top Countries for Unicorn Startups
The country that produces the start-ups that reach a $1 billion valuation fastest is China, with its 155 unicorn companies taking an average of just 5 years and 10 months to reach $1 billion.
It has taken the USA’s 378 unicorn businesses currently valued at over $1 billion an average of 6 years and 11 months to reach the valuation of $1 billion.
The second fastest country for unicorn businesses to reach $1 billion is Hong Kong, whose 5 unicorn businesses took an average of 6 years and 1 month, followed by Japan’s whose 6 unicorn companies took an average of 6 years and 3 months to reach $1 billion.
In terms of fastest countries for unicorn businesses to reach the $1 billion valuation mark, the fourth spot is jointly taken by the USA, Singapore, and Australia, whose unicorn companies all took an average of 6 years and 11 months to reach $1 billion.
The country that produces the most unicorn businesses overall is the USA (378 businesses), followed by China (155), and India (34).
Below is the world’s countries’ unicorn companies overview:
| Country | Total number of unicorn companies | Average years taken to reach $1B |
| #1 | China | 155 |
| #2 | Hong Kong | 5 |
| #3 | Japan | 6 |
| =#4 | USA | 378 |
| =#4 | Singapore | 6 |
| =#4 | Australia | 6 |
| #7 | Israel | 17 |
| #8 | France | 16 |
| #9 | UK | 31 |
| #10 | India | 34 |
| #11 | Brazil | 12 |
| #12 | Canada | 12 |
| #13 | South Korea | 10 |
#14 | Germany | 16 |
| #15 | Switzerland | 5 |
Sectors Producing Most Unicorn Companies Overview
Money.co.uk can also reveal that Auto & Transportation is the sector that produces the most unicorn start-ups in the world, followed by Artificial Intelligence and Hardware respectively.
Below are sectors that produce the most unicorn companies around the world:
| Sector | Total number of unicorn companies | Average years taken to reach $1B |
| #1 | Auto & Transportation | 31 |
| #2 | Artificial Intelligence | 62 |
| #3 | Hardware | 27 |
| =#4 | Mobile & Telecommunications | 35 |
| =#4 | E-Commerce & Direct-to-Consumer | 82 |
| =#6 | Supply Chain, Logistics & Delivery | 42 |
| =#6 | Cybersecurity | 30 |
| #8 | Data Management & Analytics | 27 |
| #9 | Fintech | 131 |
| #10 | Travel | 13 |
List of World's Top Unicorn Companies
The top five unicorn companies in the world currently are:
#1. Bytedance (Artificial intelligence) in China: Valued at $140B
#2. Stripe (Fintech) in the US: Valued at $95B
#3. SpaceX (Aerospace technology) in the US: Valued at $74B
#4. Klarna (Fintech) in Sweden: Valued at $45.6B
#5. Instacart (Supply chain, logistics, & delivery) in the US: Valued at $39B.
Popular former unicorns include Airbnb, Facebook, and Google. Variants include a decacorn, valued at over $10 billion, and a hectocorn, valued at over $100 billion, per CB Insights.
