A ‘unicorn’ business is a start-up business that has reached a valuation of more than $1bn – and the United States of America has more than any other nation around the world.
Data researched by Trading Platforms UK, indicates that the global unicorns are now cumulatively valued at $1.7tn as of January 2021. The valuation is for the 528 total global unicorns.
In total, the US has over 230 unicorns – 100 more than its closest nation, China.
Currently, the UK is in third place – and you can view the companies that reached the valuation in 2020 here. And to see who the ten most valuable unicorns are across the world, you can view the data here.
So, who are the top ten most valuable unicorns in America?
SpaceX
Valuation: £46bn
Date achieved status: January 2012
Elon Musk’s aerospace giant has risen to prominence in recent years as one of the biggest companies in the world – and one that is set to revolutionise space travel. Set up in 2002, the goal of the company is to advance the manufacturing and tech capabilities within the industry in order to make space travel affordable – leading to the future colonisation of Mars.
In order to initially achieve the unicorn valuation, the company secured funding from Founders Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Rothenberg Ventures.
Stripe
Valuation: £36bn
Date achieved status: January 2014
Stripe is a firm that is dual-headquartered in San Francisco and Dublin, Ireland. The company offers payment processing software and application programming interfaces for eCommerce websites and mobile applications. Businesses of every size – from new start-ups to public companies – use its software to accept payments and manage their businesses online.
In order to initially achieve the unicorn valuation, the company secured funding from Khosla Ventures, LowercaseCapital and capitalG.
UiPath
Valuation: £35bn
Date achieved status: February 2018
New York-based UiPath is a global software company that develops a platform for robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) – with the goal of providing every human being with robot to enhance business capabilities across a variety of industries and sectors.
In order to initially achieve the unicorn valuation, the company secured funding from Accel, capitalG, Earlybird Venture Capital, and Seedcamp.
Roblox
Valuation: £29bn
Date achieved status: May 2018
Roblox’s mission is to bring the world together through play. Through the firm’s innovative technology, it enablse anyone to imagine, create, and have fun with friends as they explore millions of immersive 3D experiences, all built by a global community of developers.
In order to initially achieve the unicorn valuation, the company secured funding from Atlos Ventures, Index Ventures, and First Round Capital.
Databricks
Valuation: £28bn
Date achieved status: May 2019
More than five thousand companies around the world — including Shell, Comcast, CVS Health, HSBC, T-Mobile and Regeneron — rely on Databricks to enable massive-scale data engineering, collaborative data science, full-lifecycle machine learning and business analytics. Headquartered in San Francisco and with hundreds of global partners, including Microsoft, Amazon, Tableau, Informatica, Cap Gemini and Booz Allen Hamilton, Databricks is on a mission to simplify and democratise data and AI, helping data teams solve the world’s toughest problems.
In order to initially achieve the unicorn valuation, the company secured funding from Andreessen Horowitz, New Enterprise Associates, and Battery Ventures.
Rivian
Valuation: £27bn
Date achieved status: October 2019
Rivian has developed and vertically integrated a connected electric platform that can be flexibly applied to a range of applications, including the company’s range of electric vehicles. The company’s launch products, the R1T and R1S, provide an unmatched combination of performance, off-road capability and utility. These vehicles will be produced at Rivian’s manufacturing plant in Normal, Illinois, with customer deliveries expected to begin in summer 2021.
To date, the firm has raise over $8bn in investment from Fidelity Management and Research Company, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Ford Motor Company, Cox Automotive, Coatue and D1 Capital Partners.
Instacart
Valuation: £17bn
Date achieved status: December 2014
Founded in 2012, Instacart is another San Francisco-based tech firm on this list. The company operates a grocery delivery and pick-up service in the United States and Canada through its website and mobile app. The service allows customers to order groceries from participating retailers with the shopping being done by a personal shopper. The company now has over 10,000 employees across the US and partners many of the country’s leading retail outlets.
To date, they have received funding to achieve unicorn status from Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Collaborative Fund.
Epic Games
Valuation: £17bn
Date achieved status: October 2018
The video games icon, was founded in 1991by CEO Tim Sweeney and is headquartered in Cary, North Carolina – although it has now grown to have more than 40 offices around the world. Today, Epic is a leading interactive entertainment company and provider of 3D engine technology.
The company operates Fortnite, one of the world’s largest games with over 350 million accounts and 2.5 billion friend connections. Epic also develops Unreal Engine, which powers the world’s leading games and is also adopted across industries such as film and television, architecture, automotive, manufacturing, and simulation. Epic provides an end-to-end digital ecosystem for developers and creators to build, distribute, and operate games and other content.
In order to initially achieve the unicorn valuation, the company secured funding from Tencent Holdings, KKR, and Smash Ventures.
Chime
Valuation: £15bn
Date achieved status: May 2019
The fintech firm Chime is a challenger or ‘neo’ bank, which provides fee-free financial services through its unique and innovative mobile app. Chime has no physical branches and does not charge monthly or overdraft fees. Another San Fransisco-based unicorn, Chime was founded in 2013 and has now grown to have almost 10 million US customers.
To date, they have received funding to achieve unicorn status from Forerunner Ventures, Crosslink Capital, and Homebrew.
Samumed
Valuation: £12bn
Date achieved status: June 2018
Samumed is a leader in medical research and development for tissue-level regeneration. Founded in 2008 in San Diego with a goal of building a broad technology platform aimed at modulating regenerative pathways to improve patient health. The company’s stem cell research is revolutionising its industry – and has had the financial support to back up its work.
The company has received funding from Vickers Venture Partners and IKEA GreenTech so far on its growth journey.
*The data in this article is correct up to the end of 2020.
