By
Steve Muchoki
April 24th, 2024
Hurun said 369 companies found their positions newly on the list, while 81 dropped off the register.
Formerly ByteDance, Douyin has maintained the top position as the world’s most valuable unicorn, according to the Global Unicorn Index for H1 2022. The Chinese company has managed to keep the position for the second year running, with a $200 billion valuation. However, the recent valuation is a 43% fall from its worth of $350 billion in the previous year.
The Global Unicorn Index H1 2022 was released by the Hurun Research Institute. The Index is based on the ranking of the start-ups all around the world that were founded in the 2000s. Also, all start-ups that were considered are with at least $1 billion and are yet to debut on a public exchange. The Hurun research, which ended on 30th June, found 1,312 unicorns worldwide. These unicorns spread across 48 countries and 259 cities. While 80% of these giants are into software and service, only 20% sell physical products. At the same time, 48% sell directly to consumers, and 52% deal with businesses.
369 New Companies Makes It to World’s Valuable Unicorn Index
Additionally, Hurun said 369 companies found their positions newly on the list, while 81 dropped off the register. About 34 names also got promoted during the half-year. As some 233 unicorns recorded increased valuation, 147 shed parts of their worth. At the same time, 573 maintained their valuation in the six months. The top 10 names on the Global Unicorn Index for H1 make up 17.6% of the entire valuations of the world’s unicorns. In total, all the global unicorns are $4.2 trillion. Out of the top 10, 5 are Chinese companies, 3 are American, 1 is from the UK, and 1 is from Malta. Five new faces also made it to the lists: Shein, Binance, WeBank, JDT and London-based fintech Checkout.com.
With Douyin being the world’s most valuable unicorn for the second year, its flagship TikTok boasts 1.2 billion monthly active users. Following Douyin on the register is USA-based SpaceX. The Elon Musk-founded spacecraft engineering company is the world’s second most valuable unicorn and the most valuable in the US. Since its inception in 2002, the company has garnered $9.5 billion via 53 financial rounds. The latest round pushed the company to a unicorn standard at $125 billion.
Third on the list of the world’s most valuable unicorns is Ant Group, with a $120 billion valuation. The company was at the top of the list back in 2019 and 2020. However, Ant has lost about $30 billion of its value since then.
Hurin Report Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf commented:
“The Global Unicorn Index 2022 Half-Year Report is designed to highlight the world’s most successful start-ups. These unicorns are leading a new generation of disruptive technology, with fintech, e-commerce, business management solutions, healthtech and AI, industries now attracting the world’s top young talent and smartest capital.”
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