Unicorns globally now worth $1.7T with 10 largest companies accounting for 24%

The startup ecosystem continues to evolve as companies focus on achieving the elusive $1 billion valuations to rank as unicorns.

According to data researched by Trading Platforms UK, the 528 global unicorns are now cumulatively valued at $1.7 trillion as of January 2021. With a value of $410 billion, the top ten unicorns take up a share of 24.09 percent of the total global unicorn valuation.

China’s AI company ByteDance is the most valued unicorn at $140 billion. Vehicle hire company Didi Chuxing also from China, ranks second with a valuation of $62 billion. United States-based SpaceX is third with a value of $46 billion. Elsewhere, One97 Communications from India ranks tenth with a value of $16 billion. Among the top ten top unicorns, the United States accounts for 60 percent, while China hosts 30 percent of the companies.

The top ten unicorns are primarily dominated by players from fintech, ride-hailing, logistics, and online video game sectors. These industries gained popularity last year during the pandemic as they helped people navigate the stay at home orders. The companies have capitalized on the newfound urgency of increased demand by ushering in new clients, and investors resulting in high valuations.  Furthermore, the pandemic gains have contributed to the velocity by which many of these brands gained more value.

ByteDance, the parent company of social media giant TikTok, has the highest valuation by far despite a mixed 2020. The firm was hit with a privacy issue, and a potential ban from the United States threatened its prospects. However, it leveraged the global popularity of TikTok to attain the $140 billion valuations.

Heading into 2021, the wave of digitization is likely to spur more companies towards unicorn status. Other regions like India will likely keep bettering the startup environment to catch up with China and India. The valuation will likely continue to rise for unicorns in health, education, and finance sectors that continue to drive most economies. Generally, the startups will leverage their increasing demand from last year to attract more investors and consumers.

(WBJ)