Hurun Released “Greater China Unicorn Index” and “Future Unicorns” for 2019 Q1

Hurun Research Institute released “Hurun Greater China Unicorn Index 2019 Q1” and “Hurun China Future Unicorns 2019 Q1” on May 7, 2019. This is the sixth release of the Unicorn Index and the first release of Future Unicorns.

In the first quarter of this year, 21 new unicorns were discovered in China, twice as many as in the fourth quarter of last year. Mounting to 202, the total number of China’s unicorns exceeded 200 for the first time. Hurun, chairman and chief investigator of the institution said:“ The number of unicorns in China has surprisingly exceeded 200, almost ten times that of India. At this time, China should be the first place in the world in terms of the number of unicorns.” Another 70 high-growth enterprises in emerging industries are on the list of future unicorns.

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Hurun noted the great attraction of Science and Technology Innovation Board for these unicorns and future unicorns. The leaders and executives of these companies should be the most welcomed group of entrepreneurs in China. We hope that our “Unicorn Index” can help new entrepreneurs to enhance their confidence in entrepreneurship, and at the same time make it easier for investors to find good investment projects.

However, Hurun also said: “Of these unicorns, I think 20 percent are likely to fall. Most of the others will go public successfully. Besides, because the price is not low, no more than 10 percent will be acquired.”

Below are some major facts from the two newly released indices:

• The top three on the list of unicorns are still Ant Financialwith a $1 trillion+ valuation, ByteDance with a $500 billion+ valuation, and Didi with a $300 billion+ valuation. 
• Among the newly discovered unicorns, the largest number are from artificial intelligence and logistics industries. 
• Seventy high-growth future unicorns are most likely to be valued at $1 billion in three years, with 66 percent of which coming from Beijing and Shanghai. 
• The largest amount of unicorns and future unicorns come from the internet service industry, reaching 42 and 16 respectively. 
• Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Nasdaq witnessed the most listings of China’s unicorns in the first quarter of this year. Five unicorns listed successfully and withdrew from the list. They are: Maoyan Entertainment (HK:01896), Futu Securities (NASDAQ: FHL), CStone Pharmaceuticals (HK:01896), Tiger Brokers (NASDAQ:TIGR), and Weimob (HK:2013). 
• Among the newly discovered unicorns, two are non-mainland companies: the logistics company Lalamove and the cross-border payment company Airwallex from Hong Kong. 
• More than one-third of the listed potential unicorns have received investment from internet giants such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Xiaomi. Sequoia captured 53 Unicorns, while Tencent and IDG captured 31 and 25, respectively. 

Featured photo credit to Hurun Report