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Last month, the companies on The SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Unicorn Board topped $1 trillion in collective funding for the first time, marking a new milestone for the board, which lists private, venture-backed companies around the globe that have hit billion-dollar valuations. The board counted a total of 1,562 unicorns at year-end, not including companies that have exited or shuttered after joining.

In 2024, a total of 109 companies joined our unicorn board, adding close to $250 billion in value and $53 billion in funding. Contrast that with 2023, when 100 companies joined and added close to $145 billion in value.

The most highly valued new unicorn of 2024 was , which first joined in May at a $24 billion valuation. Its valuation doubled to $50 billion in a new round of funding six months later.

Meanwhile, the largest round raised by a unicorn company in 2024 was ’ $10 billion deal at a valuation of $62 billion. Databricks joined the board in February 2019 when it was valued at $2.75 billion.

Leading countries

The U.S. led — by far — with 64 new unicorns minted in 2024. China was host to 16 new unicorns, India minted six and the U.K. five. Singapore birthed three new unicorns last year, while Brazil, France, Germany and Hong Kong each added two new unicorns.

December’s minted unicorns

Not surprisingly, AI led for new unicorns in December 2024. Here are the nine newly minted December unicorns, by sector.

AI

• AI cloud storage provider raised a $333 million funding led by , the venture arm of AMD, and . The 10-year-old Florida-based company was valued at $3.5 billion.
• , the maker of AI coding assistant Cursor, raised a $100 million Series B led by . and Thrive led its $60 million Series A funding four months earlier, when Anysphere said it had 40,000 customers. The 2-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $2.6 billion in its Series B round.
• , a developer of smaller foundation models, raised a $250 million Series A led by AMD Ventures. The 1-year-old Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company was valued at $2.3 billion.
• , an optical AI for faster data transmission, raised a $155 million Series D led by and . The 9-year-old San Jose, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• Language learning AI company , which facilitates real-time communication, raised a $78 million Series C led by . The 8-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.
• Foundation model company raised a Series B led by . The 1-year-old Shanghai-based company was valued at $1 billion.

Fintech

• Fintech mobile app , majority owned by , raised a $300 million corporate round led by Walmart and . The 2-year-old, New York-based company was valued at $2.8 billion.
• Digital bank raised a $250 million Series D led by Brazil-based digital bank . The 12-year-old Singapore-based company was valued at $1.5 billion. Tyme says it has 15 million customers in South Africa and the Philippines, and is planning to expand to Vietnam and Indonesia.

Robotics

• Cleaning robotic company raised a Series D that valued the 8-year-old company at $1.4 billion led by state-owned enterprises. , formerly called Sequoia Capital China, led the Series C funding.

December’s exits

Four companies exited the unicorn board in December: three by going public and one via an acquisition.

• Glendale, California-based , software provider for home services businesses, went public at a value of $6.3 billion and saw its stock climb 42% on its first-day trading. The company’s last known private valuation was its Series G in 2021, which valued it at $9.5 billion.
• Guangdong China-based semiconductor manufacturing company listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange at a value of $3.5 billion — a bit above its $3.2 billion valuation in its April 2024 Series E.
• India-based a payment and credit provider, went public on the of India at a value of $250 million. The company was valued at $1 billion in its October 2021 secondary financing.
• Document collaboration platform , based in San Francisco, was acquired by text editor . The price was not disclosed. Coda had raised $240 million and was last valued in July 2021 at $1.4 billion.

Related SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ unicorn lists

• (1,564)

• (109)
• (100)
• (777)
• (492)
• (205)
• (36)
• (453)
• (489)

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Methodology

The SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Unicorn Board is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations — such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options — as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to .

Exits analyzed here only include the first time a company exits.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

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