Top 10 Unicorn Startups In The World (2024-25)

The Next Tech Team explores the list of top 10 unicorn startups in the world of hypothetical technologies, sorted by valuation.

Based on research by CB Insights, as latest of September 2023, unicorn companies were estimated to 1,200 companies with Facebook and Google.

Another report from World population review suggests the latest information on unicorn companies’ estimated number. The research told us that the number of unicorn startups has grown to 1,361 with an increase of 4.06% from the previous year 2022.

While our team also considers the latest insight from the Statista community. The publisher information about the leading unicorns worldwide as of April 2024.

Let’s explore the world’s best unicorn companies to work for.

Also read: Top 10 IT Companies In The World By Market Cap

Best Unicorn Companies (Highest Valued)

Unicorn, is a term representing the statistical rarity of successful ventures with valuation of one billion dollars or more.

Following are such successful ventures which are privately held and valued in billion dollars, making our top 10 list of unicorn startups great places for work.

No. 1 – ByteDance

Valuation: US$220bn
Headquarters: Beijing, China
CEO: Liang Rubo

ByteDance, being an internet technology company based in China which owns TikTok, was valued about 220 billion US dollars. ByteDance is the top and leading unicorn company in the world.

The founders of ByteDance are the mind behind the achievement of such statistical rarity successfully, making it standing among richest unicorn holders in the world.

For more information, ByteDance developed the most engaging video-sharing app TikTok and Douyin, including popular news platform Toutiao. [1]

No. 2 – SpaceX

Valuation: US$180bn
Headquarters: California, United States
CEO: Elon Musk

With a valuation of 180 billion US dollars, California-based spacecraft company SpaceX is the second largest unicorn startups in the world and the best place for aerospace engineering, manufacturing engineering, materials engineering, mechanical engineering, or a related engineering field.

Well it is only the one-of-a-kind venture that developed a liquid-propellant rocket that has reached orbit. Later that, SpaceX has been grateful for many innovations for space and space agencies such as providing launch services to NASA and to the Pentagon.

Additionally, SpaceX is adhering toward developing a fully reusable ponderous lift launch system called as Starship. [2]

No. 3 – OpenAI

Valuation: US$100bn
Headquarters: San Francisco, United States
CEO: Sam Altman

It happened for the first time in history where AI created a one-person unicorn. OpenAI is the third largest unicorn startups at a valuation of 100 billion dollars.

OpenAI is a privately held venture, led by CEO Sam Altman, is an American Intelligence Research organization that focuses on making the world easier through artificial intelligence.

On that note, ChatGPT is a hugely successful conversational AI chatbot developed by OpenAI. The service offered human-problem helps such as performing writing tasks well, including composing emails, essays, resumes, and lists.

No. 4 – ANT Group

Valuation: US$80bn
Headquarters: Hangzhou, China
CEO: Eric Jing

Chinese-owned venture, ANT Group holds the world’s largest mobile payment platform Alipay, with 1.3 billion users and 80 million merchants.

ANT Group is an affiliate company of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group, valued at 80 billion dollars, securing the place in the top unicorn companies list.

Currently, the group is planning to extend the fintech affiliate of e-commerce from its new Singapore office. [3]

No. 5 – Shein

Valuation: US$65bn
Headquarters: Singapore
CEO: Chris Xu

Belonging in the shopping interim, Shein is the largest fast fashion retailer worldwide that sells luxury women’s clothing and women fashion items with security and privacy.

Though the company moved its headquarters from China to Singapore, it keeps its supply chain and warehouse in China, making it the third unicorn company from China.

The company originated in 2008 and since then it has expanded its services worldwide, while sacrificing some regulatory policies such as India banned Shein in 2020 along with 58 other apps.

No. 6 – Stripe

Valuation: US$61bn
Headquarters: Dublin, Ireland
CEO: Patrick Collison

Stripe, run by an Irish entrepreneur, currently the chief executive office at Stripe, multinational financial services and software as a service company.

It is the sixth highest unicorn and a close competition with Shein. Stripe accumulated a valuation of 61 billion dollars serving more than 25 countries.

Basically, the company provides a set of programmable software to let you facilitate payments and pay out sellers globally, just like PayPal and Payoneer.

No. 7 – Databricks

Valuation: US$43bn
Headquarters: San Francisco, United States
CEO: Ali Ghodsi

Owned and managed by Ali Ghodsi, Databricks’ co-founder and present CEO. The company valued around 43 billion dollars, making its position in the top seven.

Formally, the company is involved in data processing scheduling and management including data discovery, annotation, and exploration.

Databricks is a home of data intelligence platform and hundreds of leading firms are using databricks services to succeed in data and AI. Ventures like AT&T, Block, Heineken, and Mercedes-Benz are name of few.

No. 8 – Canva

Valuation: US$39bn
Headquarters: Sydney, Australia
CEO: Melanie Perkins

Led by female entrepreneur, Melanie Perkins is present CEO of the most popular visual editing suite platform, Canva.

Within six years of its launch, the company became a unicorn startups by achieving a billion-dollar valuation. In 2024, the company valuation was estimated to be 39 billion dollars.

Providing seamless access to design visual content such as marketing templates, business presentation, graphical videos, and much more, it has been home to 170 million people worldwide.

No. 9 – Binance

Valuation: US$34bn
Headquarters: George Town, Malta
CEO: Changpeng Zhao

Valued at 34 billion dollars, it is the ninth fastest unicorn company in the world. Binance Holdings Ltd., branded Binance is run by Changpeng Zhao.

The company is well known for providing seamless and hyper secured cryptocurrency exchange and is the largest cryptocurrency platform in terms of daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ether, and BNB.

Latest in information, Binance launchpool – Dogs, a ton namecoin gained a wide attention in relation with telegram messaging platform.

No. 10 – WeBank

Valuation: US$33bn
Headquarters: Shenzhen, China
CEO: David Ku

WeBank is a financial institution that provides hyper critical financial services to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and the public.

It is ranked last in our list at a valuation of 33 billion dollars. The company established in December 2014, Tencent-backed WeBank Co, Ltd was China’s first truly digital-only and privately funded institution.

Its most composite service includes face recognition on the financial cloud with the help of cutting-edge technologies.

What Are The Countries With The Most Unicorn Companies?

What Are The Industries With The Most Unicorn Companies?

Considering unicorns based on the industries, the software segment leads the pack with 831 unicorns, collectively boasting 25 percent compared to other fields.

Financial services is the second-largest home of unicorns with 390 companies, contributing 11.74 percent. Information Technology (IT) is contributing 10 percent with 339 unicorns. At fourth, Science and engineering innovation have 323 unicorns around the world. The data and analytics segment stands at fifth with 308 unicorns in total.

Other unicorns transcending the force of innovation in the field of internet services, shopping, artificial intelligence, transportation, and healthcare.

Methodology Used For Top 10 Unicorn Startups

All figures are sourced from websites such as Statista, Crunchbase’ Unicord Board and are correct to this writing date.

Other major sources sites have also been used to rectify facts and numbers. Those include Wikipedia and CB Insights articles.

Regarding insufficient data for certain industries from the previous year, no changes could be recorded for the biggest unicorn startups.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the no 1 unicorn startup in the world?

ByteDance is the number one unicorn startup in the world with a valuation of 220 billion US dollars.

Who is the fastest growing unicorn company?

Databricks have been notable for their rapid growth in terms of valuation and market presence.

How many unicorns are there in the world?

There are a total of 1,361 unicorns across the globe. Out of which, the United States has the largest unicorns.

Which unicorn startups is best for work?

Databricks is said to be the best unicorn for corporate work due to intelligence mindset, prestigious work culture, fair work practices, and regulatory friendliness.

Is Apple a Unicorn company?

No, Apple is not a Unicorn company because it's a business strategy adopted public affairs. It is not a private corporation anymore.

Is Tesla a Unicorn company?

No, Tesla is not a unicorn. It was one in the past.

Is SpaceX a Unicorn startups?

Yes, SpaceX is the best unicorn company. It is a private company valued at 180 billion US dollars.

Sources sites:

• https://www.cbinsights.com/research-unicorn-companies
• https://m.economictimes.com/tech/startups/india-to-have-over-250-unicorns-by-2025-report/articleshow/90915480.cms
• https://www.scmp.com/topics/ant-group
• https://www.spacex.com/mission/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ByteDance
• https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/unicorns-by-country

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