Ford electric drive Michigan factory. — © AFP
This year has seen a rise in the number of new privately held companies that reached a $1 billion valuation in 2024, companies commonly referred to as Unicorns.
The huge AI hype in the technology sector, along with the fact that OpenAI is now the third largest Unicorn in the world, has been one of the main factors in driving the expansion. This is captured in a review performed by the company BestBrokers, who analyse the most recent data and see what kind of companies are the newest additions to the Unicorn herd.
The company used data from the business analytics platform CB Insights, breaking down startups valued at over $1 billion by industry, country, and market valuation. The total count of all Unicorn companies comes at 1,241 with 28 new additions in 2024. This is a breakdown of these new additions by industry.
Notably, out of the 28 new companies that reached unicorn status this year, 12 or nearly 43 percent are AI startups, while another 8 or 29 percent are in Fintech or Cryptocurrency-related.
Most valuable unicorn
The most valuable unicorn in Europe is the UK’s digital bank Revolut. It is currently valued at $33 billion but is seeking to sell about $500 million worth of existing shares and increase its value to $40 billion.
German data processing company Celonis ($13 billion in value) is the second-most valuable unicorn in Europe, followed by the UK’s data centre operator Global Switch ($11.1 billion).
Make way for hetocorns
Chinese social media giant ByteDance is the world’s most valuable unicorn in 2024, worth $225 billion. U.S.-based spacecraft maker SpaceX ranks second with a valuation of $150 billion. These two companies are the only two hectocorns (companies valued at $100 billion or more) to date.
AI-led growth
Out of the 28 new companies that have reached unicorn status in 2024, 12 are AI startups, 8 operate in Fintech and Crypto, and 4 in Enterprise Software. Another 2 companies are in Digital Media, while the Foods and Beverages and Pharmaceutical sectors have 1 each.
The UK has the largest number of unicorns in all of Europe. As of the end of May 2024, it is currently home to 54 startups, while Germany has 31 and France has 27.
The U.S. is home to 662 unicorn startups, more than half of the worldwide total, with a valuation of $2.153 trillion. China comes next with 169 unicorns worth $641.7 billion, and India with 71 unicorns valued at $192.24 billion.
