Hurun Global Unicorn List 2024: ByteDance has the highest value, while OpenAI is growing the fastest
Hurun Research Institute has released the 2024 Global Unicorn List, with ByteDance, SpaceX, and OpenAI ranking in the top three. OpenAI, due to the outbreak of generative AI, has become the best-performing and fastest-growing unicorn globally in the past year, with a valuation of 710 billion yuan. The number of global unicorn companies has increased to 1453, with the top ten companies accounting for 18% of the total value. Chinese unicorn companies Ant Group, Shein, and WeBank have dropped in the rankings. In addition, the top ten global unicorn list also includes companies such as Databricks, Canva, and Binance
According to the Zhitong Finance and Economics APP, on April 9th, the Hurun Research Institute released the "2024 Global Unicorn List", listing non-public companies worldwide founded after 2000 with a value of over 1 billion US dollars. According to the latest list, ByteDance, SpaceX, and OpenAI ranked among the top three unicorns in 2024. Thanks to the explosion of generative AI, OpenAI was the best-performing and fastest-growing unicorn globally in the past year, with a value increase of nearly 570 billion RMB, reaching a valuation of 710 billion RMB. Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Research Officer Hurun stated that the past five years have been a golden age for entrepreneurship, with the number of global unicorn companies tripling from 494 five years ago to 1453.
It is understood that the threshold for the top ten of the 2024 Global Unicorn List is 235 billion RMB, an increase of 50 billion RMB from last year. The top ten companies account for 18% of the total value of global unicorns.
According to the latest valuations, the global top ten unicorn list is as follows:
Specifically, ByteDance and SpaceX rank first and second, respectively, while AI data service company Databricks, headquartered in San Francisco, ranks seventh, with these three companies maintaining their positions from last year.
The three new entrants to the top ten unicorn companies are OpenAI, the Australian online design platform company Canva, and the blockchain startup company Binance. OpenAI has risen 14 places in the past year, becoming the best-performing and fastest-growing unicorn globally, with a value increase of nearly 570 billion RMB, reaching 710 billion RMB, ranking in the top three globally.
Ant Group, headquartered in Hangzhou, dropped to fourth place, with a value decrease of over 280 billion RMB to 570 billion RMB; Shein, a cross-border e-commerce company founded in Guangzhou, dropped to fifth place with a value of 460 billion RMB; although the value increased by nearly 80 billion RMB, the San Francisco-based payment platform Stripe dropped to sixth place with a value of 430 billion RMB; backed by Tencent, digital bank WeBank maintained its position in the top ten with a value of 235 billion RMB, dropping 4 places, with WeBank's managed assets exceeding 2 trillion RMB.
In terms of Chinese unicorns, in addition to the four unicorns that made it to the global top ten, other Chinese unicorns in the top ten include miHoYo, Oppo, Vivo, JD Technology, Didi, GAC Aion, and Xiaohongshu.
According to the latest ranking, the number of unicorns in the United States and China has reached 703 and 340 respectively, while India, ranked third, only has 67 unicorns. Hurun Report stated that when it comes to unicorns, the world can now be divided into three parts: the United States, China, and the rest of the world.
In terms of industry distribution, Hurun believes that financial technology, software services, and AI are the three main tracks for unicorns. This year is the year of AI, and besides the leading OpenAI, in China, companies like Moon's Dark Side, established for a year, and Dream of Names, established for over two years, are leading in products similar to ChatGPT. China is developing rapidly in the field of artificial intelligence, with Chinese AI unicorns accounting for 40% of global AI unicorn companies.
In addition, the Hurun Research Institute also released the "2024 Top 100 Global Unicorn Investment Institutions", with Tiger Global Fund, SoftBank, and Sequoia China ranking in the top three most successful global unicorn investment institutions.
As for Chinese unicorn institutions, the top ten are Sequoia China, CICC Capital, IDG Capital, Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, CITIC, Matrix Partners, China Merchants Capital, Alibaba, and Shenzhen Capital. Among them, Sequoia China has invested in 114 Chinese unicorns, accounting for one-third of Chinese unicorn companies.
Hurun pointed out that out of the 29 unicorn companies that went public in the past year, 18 were from China, far ahead of the 5 from the United States and 6 from the rest of the world. However, one reason for the increasing number of unicorns is that going public is becoming more difficult
