Indians Founded More Offshore Unicorns Than In The Country, Hurun's Global Unicorn Index 2024 Reveals
Of the unicorns founded outside of India, significantly all were in the USA (95), with 4 in the UK, 3 in Singapore and 2 in Germany.
Indians have founded more unicorns abroad than in the country, Hurun Research Institute's latest Global Unicorn Index 2024, which ranks the world’s start-ups founded in the 2000s, has revealed.
Unicorns are start-ups with net worth of a billion dollars, but not listed on a public exchange.
"India’s start-up ecosystem has slowed, with the number of unicorns down for the first time since the launch of our list and despite the recent stock market record highs. One factor is that Indian founders produced more offshore unicorns than any other country, co-founding 109 unicorns outside of India compared with just 67 in India. Of the unicorns founded outside of India, significantly all were in the USA (95), with 4 in the UK, 3 in Singapore and 2 in Germany," the report stated.
The U.S. booked first position with 703 unicorns, China at second position with 340 unicorns, and India came third with 67 unicorns.
India is led by on-demand delivery start-up, Swiggy, and fantasy sports platform Dream11 worth US $8 billion each, and Razorpay worth US $7.5 billion.
Countries And Cities Where The World's Unicorns Are Based
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The research mentioned that the world can be segregated into three when it comes to unicorns- the U.S., China, and the rest of the world.
Apart from these two nations, London, Bengaluru, Paris, and Berlin are the most active cities for unicorns.
FinTech, SaaS, and AI are the three main sectors of unicorns. said the research. AI surpassed the e-commerce realm.
"The average age of unicorns in the Global Unicorn Index is 10 years, suggesting that if you were to start up a business today, you should aim to 'go unicorn' by 2034. The average age of a unicorn founder is 45 years, meaning they started on their unicorn when they were 35,” said the Hurun research.
Highlighting the top 10 unicorns worldwide, the report stated this year’s Top 10 made up 18% of the total value of the world’s unicorns. China and the US had four of the top 10, with one in both Australia and Malta each.
“The Top 10 added US $198 billion, making up 45% of all the new value added in the year,” said the research.
Tiktok owner ByteDance, founded in 2012, is officially the world's most valuable unicorn for the third year running with a value of US$220 billion. In 2023, the unicorn earned a revenue of US $110 billion, surpassing Tencent in the process, highlighting its e-commerce capabilities, even in the face of political headwinds.
LA-based SpaceX gained US $43 billion in value to retain second place with US $180 billion. This past year SpaceX continued to boost its satellite global coverage and reduce cellular dead zones. SpaceX has completed its third Starship test flight.
"The best-performing unicorn in the world in the last year was OpenAl, up US$80 billion in value to US$100 billion and a Top Three spot in the world, as it managed to productise ChatGPT and launch Sora, heralding the dawn of a new Al era," said the Hurun India report.
Canva marked its place among the top 10, up 8 places, as its valuation doubled to US$39 billion. Tencent-backed digital bank, WeBank, retained its place in the Top 10, down 4, with a valuation of US $33 billion. The digital bank was founded in 2014, and has grown to have US $310 billion of assets under management.
Top 10 Unicorns Around The World
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Based on cities, San Francisco retained its title of the 'World Unicorn Capital' with 190 unicorns. Singapore was the fastest-growing city in the world for unicorns after San Francisco, adding 8 new unicorns and taking the total to 17, said the report.
