Complete List of Unicorn Companies 2024

As of 2024, there are over 1,549 unicorns globally, spanning around 53 countries and 291 cities. This marks a notable increase from previous years, with the number rising significantly since 2019 when there were only 494.

The U.S. remains a leader, hosting over half of the world’s unicorns (760) and claiming more than 61% of the total valuation for new U.S. unicorns at nearly $25 billion. Notably, the reports show that the San Francisco Bay Area remains a key hub, retaining its status as the world’s leading city for unicorns, with around 190.

This article highlights some of the most valuable unicorns as of 2024. Let’s get into the key insights regarding their growth data.

Unicorn Companies 2024

Startups or companies in industries like the tech sector often tend to cross thresholds such as the billion-dollar mark. When they do and are worth such amounts, they are given certain titles.

What does a unicorn company mean?

When a venture capital company’s net worth reaches the billion-dollar mark, they are called a “unicorn” company. Aileen Lee, the founder of CowboyVC, popularised calling privately held companies that achieved this threshold as a Unicorn company. Within the human resource sector, a recruitment marvel is also referred to as a unicorn. When hiring, HR managers have high expectations. They often tend to look for candidates with higher qualifications than what is required for the position. In other words, managers look for a Unicorn. This creates a gap between the expectation of the ideal candidate and the available candidates.

Features of A Unicorn Company

It is not easy for a company to achieve unicorn status, but some do. Each of these companies that achieve this status has things in common. Here are the features of a unicorn company.

• Private businesses: The main feature of a unicorn company is that the company is private. 
• High-Tech: A recent research shows that a majority of the companies that have managed to achieve the unicorn status are software and the rest are either hardware or product & services companies. 
• Innovators: It is commonly seen that companies that are the first to do something unique and different achieve unicorn status. They innovate and change the norms, creating a new necessity. Additionally, such companies regularly keep innovating over the lifetime of the company to stay ahead of their competitors.
• Consumer-focused companies: When looked at, around 62% of the unicorn companies are customer-focused. Their main aim is to make things easy and simple for the people, being a part of their daily lives. One example is Spotify, they made listening to music from every corner of the world easy. 
• Disruptive innovation: One other thing that is common in these companies is that they have disrupted the industries that they are in like changing the norms and making things better. Some examples are Tesla, Airbnb, and Uber.

How many unicorn companies are there globally?

There are over 1400 unicorn companies globally today. With a failure rate of 70-80% of startups within the first five years of operations, achieving a billion-dollar net worth is not an easy task. However, some companies have managed to do so despite the hurdles. The world of venture capital is booming, leading to many startups and companies achieving this threshold.

Current unicorn companies’ trends

• Current unicorns raised over $971B in over 7,000 financing rounds from 8000 investors and have a cumulative valuation of $5.2T.
• Software, Financial Services & IT are the top industries for unicorns, followed by Science & Engineering and Data & Analytics.
• The US holds over half of the global unicorns, with a strong presence in enterprise tech & healthcare.
• The US leads in unicorns, followed by China, India, UK & Germany. (760+ US unicorns)
• The top five US unicorns by value are OpenAI ($157B), SpaceX ($125B), Stripe ($65B), Databricks ($43B), and Juul ($38B).
• Top unicorn investors: Tiger Global, Accel, Andreessen Horowitz & Sequoia Capital. Their unicorn investments include Juul, Waymo, ByteDance, Databricks, and Stripe.

List of Unicorn Companies 2024

There are over 1549 unicorn companies globally today. Here is the list of the top 100 unicorn companies:

Source: Crunchbase.

Top 10 Companies’ Total Funding Amounts

Some of the most successful startups get funding from different sources. Funding can come from VCs, angel investors, and other investors looking to invest in promising projects. The following table shows the 10 highest total funding amounts that some companies have received:

Will Your Company Be the Next Unicorn?

The evolving innovation landscape has made it more achievable to become a unicorn. With the right combination of vision, determination, and strategy, today’s startups have the potential to become billion-dollar disruptors in the future. The question is—will your company be the next unicorn? Whether you’re an entrepreneur with a groundbreaking idea or an investor looking for the next big thing, the journey to unicorn status begins now. Are you prepared to make it happen?

Eqvista offers services that benefit companies of all sizes as they navigate growth and operational complexities on their path to becoming the next unicorn. We specialize in providing valuation reports, which are essential for every company seeking to attract investors or prepare for future funding rounds. Eqvista’s cap table management software automates the tracking and management of equity ownership.

Don’t wait any longer! Contact us to discover how our services can help untangle ownership structures and drive growth in today’s dynamic market environment.