Unicorn start-ups are businesses which are independently owned and valued at over $1 billion.
Known as ‘unicorns’ for their rarity, there are currently only 750 such businesses in the world according to cbinsights.com.
Interested in finding out more about these businesses, Money.co.uk set out to find out which countries, and sectors, produce the start-ups that reach a $1 billion valuation fastest by analysing every unicorn company’s start date and the date of its $1 billion valuation.
Sectors overview:
| Sector | Total number of unicorn companies | Average years taken to reach $1B | |
| #1 | Auto & transportation | 31 | 4 years, 5 months |
| #2 | Artificial intelligence | 62 | 5 years, 6 months |
| #3 | Hardware | 27 | 5 years, 7 months |
| =#4 | Mobile & telecommunications | 35 | 6 years, 4 months |
| =#4 | E-commerce & direct-to-consumer | 82 | 6 years, 4 months |
| =#6 | Supply chain, logistics & delivery | 42 | 6 years, 11 months |
| =#6 | Cybersecurity | 30 | 6 years, 11 months |
| #8 | Data management & analytics | 27 | 7 years, 0 months |
| #9 | Fintech | 131 | 7 years, 1 month |
| #10 | Travel | 13 | 7 years, 4 months |
| #11 | Edtech | 26 | 8 years, 4 months |
| #12 | Internet software & services | 117 | 8 years, 5 months |
| #13 | Health | 56 | 8 years, 10 months |
| #14 | Consumer & retail | 21 | 10 years, 4 months |
Money.co.uk can reveal that unicorn businesses reached their $1 billion valuation fastest in the auto & transportation sector. On average, it took these businesses 4 years and 5 months to reach $1 billion.
Second fastest is artificial intelligence, which took an average of 5 years and 6 months, closely followed by hardware taking 5 years and 7 months.
The slowest sector for unicorn companies to reach $1 billion is consumer & retail, which took an average of a whopping 10 years and 4 months.
The sector with the most unicorn businesses is fintech (131 businesses), followed by internet software & services (117), and e-commerce & direct-to-consumer (82).
Countries overview:
| Country | Total number of unicorn companies | Average years taken to reach $1B | |
| #1 | China | 155 | 5 years, 10 months |
| #2 | Hong Kong | 5 | 6 years, 1 month |
| #3 | Japan | 6 | 6 years, 3 months |
| =#4 | USA | 378 | 6 years, 11 months |
| =#4 | Singapore | 6 | 6 years, 11 months |
| =#4 | Australia | 6 | 6 years, 11 months |
| #7 | Israel | 17 | 7 years, 3 months |
| #8 | France | 16 | 8 years, 3 months |
| #9 | UK | 31 | 8 years, 7 months |
| #10 | India |
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