Context

According to the Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2024, India for the first time recorded a decline in unicorn creation since 2017.

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Key Findings Of Global Unicorn Index 2024

• Number of Unicorns in India: India in 2023 had 67 unicorns, which is one less than 68 number of startups in 2022.
• Reason for Decrease: The slowdown is mainly due to lack of investment into start-ups.
• By industry, fintech had 24 per cent of all unicorns outside the US and China.
• e-commerce had a 15 per cent share. 
• SaaS and blockchain each had a 7 per cent share in the total unicorn tally outside the US and China while AI had a 5 per cent share.
• Prominence of Offshore Unicorn Production: India produced more offshore unicorns than any other country, co-founding 109 unicorns outside of India compared to 67 in India.
• • Of the unicorns founded outside of India, mostly were in the US (95), led by the Bay Area, with 4 in the UK, 3 in Singapore and 2 in Germany.
• Global Status:  There are a total of 1,453 unicorns worldwide, spanning 53 countries and 291 cities. 
  • The US led the list with 703 unicorns, China had 340 unicorns. 
  • UK and EU ranked No 4 and No 5 in the list, respectively. 
  • The US has half of the world‟s known unicorns, led by SaaS, FinTech and AI.
  • China and India have a higher percentage of Cheetahs, Gazelles and Unicorns, which over the course of the next five years ought to translate into a higher percentage of Hurun Global 500s.
• Ranking by City: By city, Bengaluru was ranked seventh with 32 unicorns and Mumbai ranked 19th with 14 unicorns. 
• San Francisco with 190 unicorns, New York with 133 unicorns and Beijing with 78 unicorns were the leading unicorn hubs in the world.
• Spinoffs from a larger company: 5% of the Global Unicorns Index are spinoffs from a larger company, with the core business a startup in the 2000s. 
  • Example- fintech Ant Group, which was a spin off in 2004 of the online payments business Alipay from the much bigger Alibaba Group.
• 2024 as the year of AI: The year 2024 has been marked as “the year of AI”, with OpenAI‘s valuation reaching $100 billion. 
  • The World‟s 10 most valuable unicorns made up half of all new value increases, led by OpenAI, up $80bn in value to US$100bn and SpaceX, up $43 billion to $180 billion.

What is a Unicorn?

• About: A “unicorn” is a privately-owned startup business worth more than $1 billion. 
  • The term was first coined by venture capitalist Aileen Lee in 2013.
  •  Cheetahs’ are valued between $200 million and $500 million whereas ‘gazelles’ are valued between $500 million and $1 billion
• Examples: Some popular unicorns include SpaceX, Robinhood, and Instacart.

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Features of a Unicorn Startup

• Disruptive Innovation: Mostly, all the unicorns have brought a disruption in the field they belong to. For example: Uber changed the way people commuted and Airbnb changed the way people planned their stay while travelling.
• The ‘Firsts’: Unicorns are mostly the starters in their industry. They change the way people do things and gradually create a necessity for themselves. 
  • They are seen to keep innovation up and running to stay ahead of competitors which might later boom.
• High on Tech:  Their business model runs on tech. Uber got their model accepted by crafting a friendly app. Airbnb made the world seem smaller by making the best of the world wide web. 
• Consumer-Focused: 62% of the unicorns are B2C companies. Their goal is to simplify and make things easy for consumers and be a part of their day to day life. 
  • Keeping things affordable is another key highlight of these startups. Spotify, for example, made listening to music easier to the world. 
• Privately Owned:  Most of the unicorns are privately owned which gets their valuation bigger when an established company invests in it.