China is currently host to the world’s largest number of private tech companies valued at over USD$1 billion according to a new study from the Shanghai-based Hurun Report.
The inaugural Hurun Global Unicorn List 2019 released on Monday indicates that China accounted for 206 out of the 494 tech unicorns that had yet to go public as of the end of the first half.
The US came in second place with 203 such firms, while India took third with 21 unicorns, followed by the UK (13) and Germany (seven).
The world’s tech unicorns are spread across 118 cities in 24 countries, and possess a total value of USD$1.7 trillion.
Beijing is the city in the world with the largest number of unicorns at 82 in total, followed by San Francisco (55), Shanghai (47), New York (25) and Hangzhou (19). Silicon Valley as a whole is home to 102 unicorns.
Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of the Hurun Report, said that China and the US possess overwhelming domination of the global unicorn market.
“China and the US dominate with over 80 per cent of the world’s known unicorns, despite representing only half of the world’s GDP and a quarter of the world’s population,” he said in an official statement.
US venture capital firm Sequoia Capital is the world’s biggest investor in unicorns with stakes in 92 tech firms, while internet giant Tencent Holdings and Japan’s Softbank Group Corp take second and third spot respectively, with stables of 46 and 42 unicorns respectively.
