China beats US for most unicorn start-ups: Report

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Oct 22, 2019 06:00 am

BEIJING: China now has more privately held start-ups valued by investors at over US$1 billion (S$1.36 billion) than the US, a report said yesterday.

There were 206 Chinese companies out of a global total of 494 ultra-valuable start-ups - known as unicorns - in June, according to research firm Hurun Report. This makes China with the most unicorns, with the US coming in second with 203 such companies.

"China and the US dominate with over 80 per cent of the known unicorns, despite representing only half of the world's (gross domestic product) and a quarter of the world's population," Hurun Report chairman Rupert Hoogewerf said.

According to Hurun, China is home to the world's three most valuable unicorns - Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial, app-maker ByteDance and ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, which have a combined value of US$280 billion.

Major US names such as Airbnb and co-working space operator WeWork also made the list, which included lesser-known start-ups like California-based automated pizza delivery company Zume and Indian fantasy sports platform Dream11.

Hurun, which released its first Global Unicorn List yesterday, said this was the first time China's number of unicorns was confirmed by researchers to have surpassed the US. - AFP