Capital & Finance
PitchBook’s Unicorn Update
This piece is taken from PitchBook’s Unicorn Companies Tracker published February 3, 2025. PitchBook’s unicorn tracker contains all new unicorn companies formed since the beginning of 2016.
What is a unicorn company?
The term unicorn describes startups that are valued at more than $1 billion. PitchBook defines a unicorn more narrowly as a venture-backed company that raised a round at post-money valuation of $1 billion or more. A company is no longer considered a unicorn if it is no longer venture-backed because it goes public or is acquired, or if its valuation falls below the $1 billion threshold.
How many unicorn companies are there in the world?
Once a rare beast, billion-dollar startups have become commonplace. More than 580 new unicorn companies were formed in 2021 alone, according to PitchBook data.
Globally, there were 1,434 active unicorns as of Feb. 1, 2025.
Why are startups called unicorns?
Venture capitalist Aileen Lee, the founder of Cowboy Ventures, coined the term “unicorn” in 2013 to describe billion-dollar US software companies. At the time, these startups were both rare and special: Lee counted just 39 companies that met her criteria in 2013, a list that included Facebook, LinkedIn, Workday and Twitter.
Why are these companies important? In venture capital, a small number of companies deliver most of a fund’s returns, a phenomenon known as the power law. Unicorns are a highly visible example of the power law in action.
What are the biggest unicorns in the world?
The top unicorns in the world—in terms of valuation—include ByteDance, Ant Group, Stripe and SpaceX, according to PitchBook data.
Which country has the most unicorns?
The US has the most active unicorns of any country with 729 companies, or 51.4% of the global total as of Dec. 2, 2024. Chinese unicorns are the second-most common at 313 companies, followed by India (61 unicorns), UK (48 unicorns), then Israel (27 unicorns).
How many companies become unicorns?
In 2021, nearly 8% of all companies that received VC funding globally were valued at $1 billion or more, according to PitchBook data.
The fact that so many funding rounds now involve billion-dollar companies is due in part to the growth in VC fund sizes. Several late-stage investors, most notably SoftBank, have tech investment strategies built almost exclusively around backing companies that are valued at more than $1 billion. Due to increasing competition, however, some of these investors are moving into earlier stage deals with the hopes of building relationships with tomorrow’s unicorns.
