At the head of the most valuable “unicorns” (startups valued at more than $ 1 billion) in the world are Ant Financial, ByteDance, Didi Chuxing, Infor and JUUL Labs.
Startups there are many. However, only a very small percentage manages to conquer the top of success and less to overcome the magical figure of 1,000 million dollars.
According to a recent Hurun report, these are the most expensive “unicorns” (startups valued at more than $ 1 billion) in the world:
Ant Financial (150,000 million dollars)
Located in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, Ant Financial boasts of being the most valuable startup in the world with a valuation of 150,000 million dollars. Founded in 2014 and previously known as Alipay, Ant Financial, with the focus on online payments, is a subsidiary of the e-commerce giant Alibaba. In June 2018, the Chinese startup put the tie to 14,000 million dollars in a round of financing led by GIC and Tamasek.
ByteDance ($ 75 billion)
Founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming, ByteDance shelters under its breast the news aggregator based on artificial intelligence Jinri Toutiao and the celebrated TikTok music video platform. ByteDance has undertaken to date three rounds of financing valued at $ 4.3 billion in which it has received financial support from companies such as General Atlantic, KKR, Primavera Capital Group, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Softbank. Last July ByteDance bought Jukedeck, an artificial intelligence startup whose specialty is to create copyright-free music.
Didi Chuxing (55,000 million dollars)
The transport company Didi Chuxing was founded in 2012 by Cheng Wei and has collected in 18 rounds of financing $ 21.2 billion from investors. Its last round of financing took place last July, when Toyota Motor Corp. poured 600 million dollars into its coffers.
Infor (50.00 billion dollars)
The New York company Infor develops cloud products for small and medium businesses. Founded in 2002 by Jim Schaper, Infor has developed four rounds of financing valued at $ 4 billion.
JUUL Labs (48,000 million dollars)
Based in San Francisco, JUUL Labs is an electronic cigarette manufacturer that boasts three quarters of the US market for nicotine products. JUUL Labs saw the light in 2015 from the hand of Adam Bowen, James Monsees, Kevin Burns and Tim Danaher. And in just four years of life it has managed to fill its coffers with 13.6 billion dollars in financing. Thanks to its last round of financing, in which the Capital Re investment fund took part, the company obtained a valuation of 48,000 million dollars.
Airbnb (38,000 million dollars)
Airbnb hatched in 2008 in San Francisco and currently operates in 81,000 cities and 191 different countries. In 2018 alone, two million people booked accommodation through Airbnb. Since its founding, the startup has undertaken 16 rounds of financing valued at $ 4.4 billion.
Lufax (38,000 million dollars)
Based in Shanghai, the Lufax online finance market was founded by Ping An Insurance and has so far compiled $ 3 billion put on the table by investors such as Primavera Capital Group, COFCO and BlackPine.
SpaceX (35,000 million dollars)
Located in Los Angeles, the SpaceX aerospace company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk. A protagonist to date of 22 rounds of financing, SpaceX has amassed $ 3.2 billion in financing.
WeWork (30,000 million dollars)
The startup specializing in coworking spaces was established in 2010 by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKevley and until August 2019 has collected $ 12.8 billion from investors such as Softbank, Wellington Management, Benchmark and Hony Capital. The last few months have been quite complicated for WeWork, which canceled its IPO plans about a month after the resignation of its CEO.
Stripe (23,000 million dollars)
Brothers John and Patrick Collison built Stripe’s first stone in 2010 in the city of San Francisco. The company, which offers payment solutions for companies, has so far collected $ 785 million from investors such as Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, Capital G and Sequoia Capital. Its most juicy round of financing took place in September 2019, when the startup caught $ 245 million in a round with Tiger Global Management leading.
Also published on Medium.