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The Comprehensive Unicorn Startup List for 2022

In partnership with Pitchbook
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Get 2023 State of Global Unicorn Startups Report

Over the last decade, we've witnessed the rise of 1,400+ unicorn startups, achieving valuations of $1 billion or more. However, these unicorns have hit a slowdown due to the current "funding winter" and macroeconomic challenges worldwide.Curious to hear more? HubSpot for Startups teamed up with PitchBook for an in-depth analysis of the global unicorn landscape. Here are five key insights from the report:

  1. Software & IT firms dominate, accounting for nearly 48% of the worlds' unicorns.
  2. Top unicorns are embracing AI, freemium growth, and community — and over 20% of unicorns use HubSpot
  3. The US, China, and India lead the way, housing the majority of these extraordinary creatures.
  4. On average, it takes 9 years of hard work and dedication to reach unicorn status.
  5. VC's are looking for strong founder teams, large total addressable markets (TAMs), early investments, scalable technology, and notable traction.

The updated global unicorn is now available!

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The 2022 Global Unicorn Report

A unicorn startup is a private company valued over $1 billion. Venture capitalist Aileen Lee coined the term “unicorn startup” in a 2013 TechCrunch article on the lessons learned from the explosive success of the few Facebooks and Googles of the world. At the time, she said that companies who can reach this milestone valuation are as rare as unicorns.

There were 39 unicorns on the list in 2013. In 2022, there are almost 900 unicorn startups in the world, valued at more than $3.5 trillion combined. Even bigger variations of unicorns have popped up since the birth of the original term: Decacorns are valued at more than $10 billion and hectacorns are valued at more than $100 billion.

Unicorns are not as rare as they were in 2013, but it still takes a lot of hard work to join the herd. We partnered with PitchBook to take a deep dive into the world of unicorn startups and to give you a snapshot of today’s herd.

Unicorn Startup List

We’ve put together a full list of unicorn startups and highlighted total funding raised, valuation, HQ country, industry, and the number of active investors. We also highlighted investors who partner with HubSpot. Use the filters below to look through the list.

Top Unicorn Investors

Unicorns would not reach their success without the investors and venture capitalists backing their businesses. Tiger Global Management comes out on top for investing in 155 unicorns. SoftBank Investment Advisers comes close with 96 investments and Coatue Management invests in nearly 78 unicorns. 

Many investors are also HubSpot partners. For example, Y Combinator, Alchemist Accelerator, and 8VC are all a part of our partner program. HubSpot partners make up 372 of 7,188 unicorn investors.

Below, we’ve highlighted the top investors to see how their investments stack up against each other.

Tiger Global Management
SoftBank Investment Advisers
Coatue Management
Accel
Sequoia Capital
Andreessen Horowitz
Insight Partners
Y Combinator
Sequoia Capital China
Temasek Holdings
GV
Lightspeed Venture Partners
DST Global
Salesforce Ventures
General Catalyst
Number of unicorn companies
Tiger Global Management

Invested in 155 unicorn companies

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Unicorn Companies by Location

Unicorn companies are located all over the world. Some countries are bigger hotspots compared to others. The United States is home to more than half of the world’s unicorns. The next biggest countries are China, India, and the United Kingdom. Use the map below to see what countries house the world’s most valuable companies.

United States

464 unicorn companies

  • United States 464
  • China 162
  • India 44
  • United Kingdom 29

Top Tech and Tools Used by Unicorns

Free resources kits and DIY solutions are great tactics to use when you’re starting your business. However, you’ll eventually need to transition reliable and powerful platforms to take your business to the next level.

Business tools that automate and speed up processes are one key way to save time and money. Many unicorn companies understand this and use similar tools to achieve that goal.

We scanned through data from BuiltWith and SimilarTeach to uncover what tools unicorn companies use for different categories. Take a look at our findings below.

Top CMS Platforms

  • HubSpot CMS
  • WordPress
  • Salesforce
  • Contentful
  • Webflow

Top Email Platforms

  • Amazon SES
  • Sendgrid
  • Mandrill
  • MailChimp
  • Postmark

Top Web Hosting Platforms

  • Amazon AWS
  • Google Cloud
  • Cloudlfare
  • Alibaba
  • China Telecom

Top Marketing Automation Platforms

  • HubSpot CMS
  • Marketo
  • Pardot
  • TowerData
  • Live Ramp

Top Customer Communication Platforms

  • Zendesk
  • Intercom
  • Kustomer
  • Customer IO
  • Stella Service

Unicorns by Industry

Learning about the most popular industries for businesses, especially unicorn companies, can jumpstart your research for your own business. For example, you can use industry benchmark data to see the projected future of that sector.

In the world of unicorns, software dominates as the number one industry. Software-based companies range from fintech-focused Webull to DIY design company Canva.

Other top industries include commercial services, retail, and transportation. Curious to see how they compare? Check out this chart below to see the breakdown of the top unicorn’ industries.

Software 373
Commercial Services 70
Transportation 41
Retail 40
Media 38

Unicorn Startup Growth Trends

There isn’t a magic recipe to become a unicorn startup. Everyone’s path is different, but there are some stages and steps many unicorns follow. For example, finding your business’s niche market and rapidly scaling are just a couple things unicorns do to skyrocket their business’s growth.

Up until 2002, only a few companies achieved a billion-dollar valuation each year. Growth started to speed up in the mid-2000s and exploded in 2010. Check out this chart below to see how many unicorns have popped up over the years.

founding year chart of Unicorn startups

With the increasing growth in unicorns each year, many factors have also changed over time that benefit the emergence of unicorn companies. We’ll go over some of these trends below and how companies have taken advantage of these shifts.

  1. man at computer with headphones

    Advancements in Technology

    Unicorns have expanded their technology ecosystem to reach customers globally, automate tedious tasks, and access information anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection.

  2. three women looking at laptop

    Affinity for Disruption

    You may be on the right track if you’re  disrupting an existing industry. You won’t have many direct competitors and you have the chance to shift the landscape in your favor.

  3. people in a meeting

    Focus on Growth

    Unicorns typically adopt a Get-big-quick approach that involves deprioritizing long-term profitability while cutting prices and seeking lots of funding.

  4. man looking at ipad tablet

    More Private Capital

    There’s been more incentive to chase unicorns over the years. Many investors are interested in finding the next Facebook or Google in hopes of finally investing in the right company.

  5. women in a meeting outdoors

    Staying Private Longer

    Going public isn’t necessary to get the capital or notoriety that comes with it. Now that there’s more access to private capital, companies don’t need to endure that process to grow.

Outlook of Unicorn Companies

The talk of unicorns may elicit excitement from some people and polite, yet exasperated, sighs from others. The idea of becoming a unicorn is still a great incentive for many thanks to the high reward and prestige. Others advocate for creating camel-like businesses that result in more sustainable growth.

Regardless of what camp you’re in, there are more companies joining the unicorn club every year. For example, 15 unicorns on our list were founded in 2020 alone.

Forbes releases a list every year of the Next Billion-Dollar Startups. Although it’s not an exhaustive list, successful companies like Viz.ai, Salt Security, and Productboard are just a few examples of the next potential herd of unicorns.

Becoming a unicorn startup is a great accomplishment that very few can accomplish. In addition to essentials like a solid team and a healthy amount of capital, you also need great tools that can grow with your business.

If you’re still on the hunt for scalable software, check out our HubSpot for Startups to learn about how we’ve helped startups increase leads, accelerate sales, and streamline customer service.