The number of new unicorn companies ticked up in 2024, driven largely by U.S.-based AI companies, an analysis of Crunchbase data shows.
The Crunchbase Unicorn Board added 110 companies globally last year, up from 100 in 2023, with the U.S. seeing a jump from 42 to 65 new unicorns. This increase is attributed to U.S. leadership in AI, with notable companies including xAI, Infinite Reality and Perplexity joining the unicorn ranks.
While the U.S. saw growth, China’s new unicorn count declined, although it remains the second-largest country for unicorns — and for AI funding.
Other countries including India and Singapore saw increases, while Europe’s numbers remained relatively stable. The AI sector led the surge, followed by fintech and healthcare, and a majority of the new unicorns were five years old or younger.
While last year saw an uptick in new unicorn creation globally, the numbers remain well below the 300-plus billion-dollar startups that joined the board in 2022 and the more than 600 who galloped onto the board in 2021.
The buildup of private billion-dollar-plus companies — now totaling more than 1,500 — collectively topped $1 trillion in funding raised for the first time in December 2024. Altogether, these companies are valued at north of $5 billion.
US gained
Of the new 2024 unicorns, 65 are U.S.-based — a significant jump from the 42 companies that joined in 2023.
That increase was due in large part to U.S. leadership in AI. New AI unicorns minted last year include:
- Elon Musk’s foundation model company xAI, most recently valued at $50 billion;
- 3D immersive environment Infinite Reality, valued at $12 billion;
- AI search startup Perplexity, valued at $9 billion;
- Quantum computing services startup Quantinuum, valued at $5.3 billion; and
- Newly launched foundation model company Safe Superintelligence, valued at $5 billion.
The second-largest country for unicorn companies as of 2024 is China. However, net new unicorn companies from China dropped year over year to 17 in 2024, down from 29 in 2023, amid a broader decline in funding to Chinese-based startups.
The most valuable new 2024 unicorn company from China is Huawei Technologies’ smart car subsidiary Yinwang Smart Technology, valued at $16 billion. Other notable companies from China include chip companies Innoscience and Zhuzhou CRRC Times Semiconductor, each valued around $3.2 billion, and foundation model companies Moonshot AI, valued at $3.3 billion, and StepStar, valued at $1 billion.
India jumped year over year to six companies from two in 2023 with companies in finance and transportation. Singapore counted three new unicorns in 2024 — from zero in 2023 — in banking, Web3 and semiconductor assembly.
In Europe, the U.K. maintained five new unicorns each year, as did France with two. Germany declined year over year from four to two new unicorns in 2024. Sectors include analytics, fintech, healthcare and e-commerce among others.
AI led
The 2024 surge in new unicorns was led by the AI sector, which included companies focused on foundation models, AI infrastructure and coding.
Fintech was the next-largest sector, with 12 companies in banking, payments, credit and wealth management.
Healthcare and biotech was the third-highest sector for new unicorns with nine companies.
Energy and Web3 each minted eight new unicorns. Companies providing professional services added seven new unicorns, including companies in business analytics, legal tech and supply chain. Robotics and cybersecurity each added six new companies.
Across many of these sectors, AI was woven into service offerings.
Faster unicorns
Early-stage unicorns were minted at a faster clip in 2024 compared to 2023, per a Crunchbase News analysis. These startups, which were valued at a billion dollars or more in a seed, Series A or Series B round, totaled 39 last year, a 70% increase from 2023.
Of the new 2024 unicorns, 59 — the majority — were five years old or younger when they were first valued at $1 billion or more. Another 33 were between six and 10 years old. And 18 of the companies were more than 10 years old by the time they became unicorns.
While younger companies predominate, that does not translate to faster exits for this growing cohort of companies.
Related Crunchbase unicorn lists:
Related reading:
Methodology
The Crunchbase Unicorn Board is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on Crunchbase data. New companies are added to the Unicorn Board as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.
The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations — such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options — as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.
Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to The Exited Unicorn Board.
Exits analyzed here only include the first time a company exits.
Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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