India, with 21 unicorns (startup valued at $ 1 billion), has been placed third after China and the US, according to the inaugural Hurun Global Unicorn List 2019. The list has made the ranking of the world’s billion-dollar tech ‘start-ups’ founded in the 2000s and not yet listed on a public exchange. The list has included 494 unicorns spread in 24 countries and 118 cities. Set up seven years ago on average, they are worth US$3.4bn on average and US$1.7tn in total.
Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said: “We have found just under 500 unicorns in the world. The Hurun Global Unicorn List 2019 is designed to inspire entrepreneurship amongst wannabe entrepreneurs and encourage investors. These young companies, only seven years old on average, are the world’s most exciting start-ups, leading a new generation of disruptive technology,” Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said in a release.
According to the list, China has 206 unicorns to top the ranking while the United States with 203 is placed second. The two countries together account for 80% of the unicorns while Europe has 35 unicorns.
India was third with 21 unicorns, led by payments solutions platform One97 Communications (US$10bn), cab aggregator Ola Cabs (US$6bn), online educator Byju’s (US$6bn), and travel-stay finder OYO Rooms (US$5bn).
E-commerce and fintech make up 31% of the world’s unicorns, followed by cloud and AI. Artificial Intelligence boasts a total of 40 unicorns or 8% of the global list. As a region, Silicon Valley leads the world with 102 or 21 per cent of the worlds’ unicorns.
The list of countries having unicorns:
1. China: 206
2. USA: 203
3. India: 21
4. UK :13
5. Germany: 7
6. Israel: 7
7. South Korea: 6
8. Indonesia: 4
9. France : 4
10. Brazil: 4
11. Switzerland: 3
12. Sweden: 2
13. Japan: 2
14. Singapore: 2