What are Unicorns?

Unicorns are defined as privately owned startups valued at more than $1 billion. A notable accomplishment for businesses, achieving unicorn status is an indication of their potential for success and quick expansion. A firm is often considered to have achieved broad market acceptability, robust revenue and user growth, and significant venture capital investment when it reaches a valuation of $1 billion or above.

  • When a business reaches unicorn status, it indicates that it has the potential to succeed because of its wide market acceptance, rapid growth, and significant venture capital investment.
  • While investors are drawn to unicorns by their promises of innovation and large profits, not all of them reach their full potential due to obstacles including management problems and competition.
  • The current dynamic entrepreneurial landscape is reflected in the trend of firms striving for unicorn status.

The investment community is typically drawn to unicorns because of their revolutionary business concepts and promise of large returns. These businesses entice investors in the hopes that they will emerge as the next great success story, turning a healthy profit when they go public or are bought out by bigger organisations.

Table of Content

  • Features of Unicorns
  • Valuation of Unicorns
  • Factors on Which Success of Unicorns Depend
  • Reasons for the Abnormally High Valuation of Unicorns
  • What Sort of Companies Make Unicorns?
  • Top 10 Most Valuable Unicorns in India
  • Top 10 Most Valuable Unicorns in the World

Unicorns : Meaning, Valuation & Examples

Similar Reads

What are Unicorns?

Unicorns are defined as privately owned startups valued at more than $1 billion. A notable accomplishment for businesses, achieving unicorn status is an indication of their potential for success and quick expansion. A firm is often considered to have achieved broad market acceptability, robust revenue and user growth, and significant venture capital investment when it reaches a valuation of $1 billion or above....

Features of Unicorns

1. Innovation and Creativity: Unicorn companies can transform the entire market by introducing creative products and services. Such products and services hold the potential to dominate the entire market by introducing a new line of products and distinguishing themselves from the rest....

Valuation of Unicorns

The market perception and financial status of unicorns—privately held firms valued at $1 billion or more, are significantly influenced by their valuation. The following variables affect these high-value startups’ valuations,...

Factors on Which Success of Unicorns Depend

1. Use of Social Media : Social media plays a great role in the unicorn companies. Social media has helped unicorn companies to make the audience aware of the brand. In such a process, it becomes convenient for the unicorn companies to recognise and target the right segment of consumers in the market as well as reduce the advertisement cost by making use of online platforms for advertisement....

Reasons for the Abnormally High Valuation of Unicorns

Numerous variables, representing both the potential and threats in the startup ecosystem, can be ascribed to the abnormally high values of unicorns, or privately owned firms valued at over $1 billion. The following are some of the main causes of these high valuations,...

What Sort of Companies Make Unicorns?

Unicorns, or privately held firms valued at more than $1 billion, are present in many different industries, although they are frequently concentrated in those that are distinguished by innovative business models, scalability, and rapid technical advancement. Categories of businesses that have attained unicorn status include the following,...

Top 10 Most Valuable Unicorns in India

S.No. Company Name Sector Entry Valuation ($B) Current Valuation ($B) Date of Entry Location Major Investors 1 Flipkart E-Commerce 1 37.6 Feb-2012 Bangalore/Singapore Accel, Tiger Global, Naspers, SoftBank, Tencent 2 PhonePe Fintech-Payments 5.5 12 Dec-2020 Bangalore Tiger Global, Tencent 3 OYO Rooms Proptech – Hotel Booking 4.9 9.6 Sep-2018 Gurgaon Lightspeed Ventures, Sequoia Capital, SoftBank 4 Dream 11 Gaming 1 8 Apr-2019 Mumbai Kalaari Capital, Tencent, Multiples PE, Steadview, Alpha Wave Global 5 Swiggy Foodtech 1.4 7.85 Jun-2018 Bangalore Accel, Elevation Capital, Norwest, Naspers, Tencent, Invesco 6 RazorPay Fintech – Payment Gateway 1 7.5 Oct-2020 Bangalore Matrix Partners India, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India, DST Global 7 Polygon Web3 Infrastructure-Dapps 10 7.08 Feb-2022 Bangalore Coinbase Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global, SoftBank 8 PayTM Fintech-Payments & Walet 1.7 6.66 Feb-2015 Noida Saama Capital, Elevation Capital, Alibaba, Berkshire Hathway 9 Ola Cabs Mobility – Ride Aggregator 1.6 3.5 Mar-2015 Bangalore Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, Steadview, SoftBank, Tencent 10 BYJUS Edtech 1 3 Jan-2018 Bangalore Aarin Capital, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Ventures, Tencent, General Atlantic, Tiger Global...

Top 10 Most Valuable Unicorns in the World

S.No. Company Name Sector Current Valuation ($B) Date of Entry Location Major Investors 1 ByteDance Media & Entertainment 225 April 2017 China Sequoia Capital China, SIG Asia Investments, Sina Weibo, SoftBank Group 2 SpaceX Industrials 150 December 2012 United States Founders Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Rothenberg Ventures 3 SHIEN Consumer & Retail 66 July 2018 Singapore Tiger Global Management, Sequoia Capital China, Shunwei Capital Partners 4 Strope Financial Services 50 January 2014 United States Khosla Ventures, LowercaseCapital, capitalG 5 Databricks Enterprise Tech 43 February 2019 United States Andreessen Horowitz, New Enterprise Associates, Battery Ventures 6 Canva Enterprise Tech 25.4 January 2018 Australia Sequoia Capital China, Blackbird Ventures, Matrix Partners 7 Revoult Financial Services 33 April 2018 United Kingdom Index Ventures, DST Global, Ribbit Capital 8 Epic Games Media & Entertainment 31.50 December 2018 United States Tencent Holdings, KKR, Smash Ventures 9 Fanatics Consumer & Retail 31 June 2012 United States SoftBank Group, Andreessen Horowitz, Temasek Holdings 10 OpenAI Enterprise Tech 29 July 2019 United States Khosla Ventures...

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