USA Ranks Among Best Countries For Unicorn Start-Ups In The World

Updated on

Unicorn start-ups are businesses which are independently owned and valued at over $1 billion. Known as ‘unicorns’ for their rarity, there are currently only 750 such businesses in the world according to cbinsights.com.

Get Our Icahn eBook!

Get The Full Carl Icahn Series In PDF

Q2 2021 hedge fund letters, conferences and more

Interested in finding out more about these businesses, Money.co.uk set out to find out which countries, and sectors, produce the start-ups that reach a $1 billion valuation fastest by analysing every unicorn company’s start date and the date of its $1 billion valuation.

USA: The Fourth Best Country For Unicorn Start-Ups

Money.co.uk can reveal that the USA is the joint fourth best country in the world for unicorn start-ups. With 378 businesses currently valued at over $1 billion, it has taken Japan’s unicorn businesses an average of 6 years and 11 months to reach the valuation of $1 billion.

For more information about the USA’s unicorn businesses, please see the spreadsheet in the Dropbox folder linked below titled ‘Money.co.uk Unicorn Businesses – Countries’.

Countries Overview: 

Country Total number of unicorn companies Average years taken to reach $1B
#1 China 155 5 years, 10 months
#2 Hong Kong 5 6 years, 1 month
#3 Japan 6 6 years, 3 months
=#4 USA 378 6 years, 11 months
=#4 Singapore 6 6 years, 11 months
=#4 Australia 6 6 years, 11 months
#7 Israel 17 7 years, 3 months
#8 France 16 8 years, 3 months
#9 UK 31 8 years, 7 months
#10 India 34 8 years, 9 months
#11 Brazil 12 8 years, 10 months
#12 Canada 12 10 years, 9 months
#13 South Korea 10 10 years, 10 months
#14 Germany 16 11 years, 5 months
#15 Switzerland 5 14 years, 11 months

China Leads The World Of Unicorn Start-Ups

The country that produces the start-ups which reach a $1 billion valuation fastest is China, with its 155 unicorn companies taking an average of just 5 years and 10 months to reach $1 billion.

The second fastest country for unicorn businesses to reach $1 billion is Hong Kong, whose businesses take an average of 6 years and 1 month, followed by Japan’s which take an average of 6 years and 3 months.

Fourth spot is taken by the USASingapore, and Australia, whose unicorn companies all took an average of 6 years and 11 months to reach $1 billion.

The country that produces the most unicorn businesses is the USA (378 businesses), followed by China (155), and India (34).

Sectors Overview: 

Sector Total number of unicorn companies Average years taken to reach $1B
#1 Auto & Transportation 31 4 years, 5 months
#2 Artificial Intelligence 62 5 years, 6 months
#3 Hardware 27 5 years, 7 months
=#4 Mobile & Telecommunications 35 6 years, 4 months
=#4 E-Commerce & Direct-to-Consumer 82 6 years, 4 months
=#6 Supply Chain, Logistics & Delivery 42 6 years, 11 months
=#6 Cybersecurity 30 6 years, 11 months