According to the CB Insights unicorn list, Chinese AI and media company ByteDance is the highest-valued startup – currently private, up-and-coming company – in the world. The parent company of TikTok is valued at $225 billion. ByteDance also runs content platform Toutiao in China, which uses machine learning to tailor a newsfeed for each individual viewer out of traditional and new media sources.
The list of the top 8 highest-valued startups in the world only features one non-U.S. and non-Chinese company, Fintech app and neobank Revolut out of the United Kingdom. As of November 2023, other highly ranked international entries are Australian software company Canva (rank 10) and Indonesian logistics provider J&T Express (rank 13). A quick riser on the list has been Chinese apparel retailer Shein, now valued at $66 billion.
According to CB Insights, there were more than 1,200 unicorn startups (companies valued at $1 billion or more) in the world as of October 2023. Around 40 are decacorns, valued at $10 billion or more, including OpenAI, Discord, Grammarly, JUUL, BYJU's and Reddit. Bytedance and Space X are the world's hectocorns, valued at more than $100 billion.
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This chart shows the highest-valued startup companies in the world, as of November 2023.
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The Chinese media and entertainment company ByteDance, which owns the social media platform TikTok, is the world's most valuable unicorn company at $225 billion. However, as U.S. regulatory pressure grows for ByteDance to divest TikTok in the U.S., this leading valuation may be in doubt going forward.
Unicorn is the term used in the venture capital industry to describe a startup company valued at over $1 billion. The term was first coined by venture capitalist Aileen Lee in 2013.
The United States is the undisputed leader in the global startup ecosystem. Home to Silicon Valley, the epicenter of tech innovation, the U.S. boasts a large number of startups across various industries.
Once upon a time, SpaceX was the world's only unicorn space company -- a privately owned space company that would have a valuation well above $1 billion if it could only be convinced to IPO.
PetroChina was the first-ever trillion-dollar company. It reached this market capitalisation on its very first day of trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange back in November 2007.
A decacorn is a term used to describe a privately held company with a valuation that exceeds $10 billion. The term is based on a combination of the prefix “deca-” and the word “unicorn.” Deca- means 10, while unicorn refers to a startup valued at $1 billion or more.
U.S. Steel was capitalized at $1.4 billion and became the first billion-dollar corporation in American history. Schwab was named president (but resigned in 1903 to join Bethlehem Steel), and Gary was made chairman of the board (a post that he held until his death in 1927).
In business, a unicorn is a startup company valued at over US$1 billion which is privately owned and not listed on a share market. The term was first published in 2013, coined by venture capitalist Aileen Lee, choosing the mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of such successful ventures.
The US led the list with 703 unicorns, up 37 from 2022, and China woth 340 unicorns. UK and EU ranked No 4 and No 5 in the list, respectively. The total value of the world's unicorns have reached US$5 trillion, equivalent to last year's GDP of Japan.
US cities fair well, with San Francisco and New York in first and second place. The cities of London, Beijing, Bangalore, Tel Aviv, and Paris are all, perhaps unsurprisingly, in the category of high performing startup ecosystems.
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