"139 Unicorns from last year ‘promoted’ out of the index this year, of which 75 IPO and 64 merged/acquired. Biggest ‘graduate’ from last year’s Unicorns is SpaceX, now worth over US$2tn, a six-fold leap from its US$350bn baseline last year."
Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2026
Leading research institution reveals UK Leads Europe in Startup Value Creation
Hurun UK Global Unicorn Index 2026 list recognizes 1603 unicorns worldwide worth a combined US$8 trillion, led by the AI revolution.
(25 June 2026, Guangzhou, Mumbai, and London) The Hurun Research Institute today released the Global Unicorn Index 2026, a ranking of the world’s unicorns, defined as start-ups founded in the 2000s, worth at least a billion dollars and not yet listed on a public exchange. The cut-off was 1 January 2026, with significant changes in valuation updated up to the date of publication. Hurun Research Institute has been tracking unicorns since 2017. This is the eighth year of the Global Unicorn Index.
Hurun Research Institute found 1603 unicorns in the world, based in 52 countries and 299 cities. 610 unicorns saw their valuations rise, of which 308 were new faces. 178 saw their valuations drop, of which 88 were ‘demoted’ as their valuation no longer made the US$1bn cut. 139 were ‘promoted’ out of the list, of which 75 went IPO and 64 were merged/acquired. 903 saw no change to their valuations.
The world’s unicorns are disrupting financial services, business management solutions and healthcare. 74% sell software and services, led by FinTech, SaaS, and AI, whilst 26% have a physical product, led by Semiconductors, New Energy, Biotech, and HealthTech.
Top 10 Unicorns in the World
The AI Super-Surge: Anthropic rocketed up 7 positions into the #1 spot globally, adding an astronomical US$904Bn to reach a US$965Bn valuation. OpenAI maintained its position as the second most valuable unicorn globally. The firm saw its valuation more than double, growing by US$552Bn to achieve a current valuation of US$852Bn. Consequently, former frontrunner ByteDance dropped one position to #3, sitting at US$480Bn despite a US$180Bn gain.
The cut-off to enter the top tier rose drastically to US$61Bn, an increase of US$16Bn compared to last year. Binance officially entered the Top 10 for the first time at #8, doubling its valuation by adding US$35Bn to reach US$70Bn. Fast-growing fintech Revolut also climbed three places to #7 with a valuation of US$75Bn, while fast-fashion giant Shein takes the #9 with US$67Bn. Defence tech Anduril made a massive leap of 23 positions to break into the elite group at #10 with a valuation of US$61Bn.
Geographically, USA companies now tighten their grip on the elite board, claiming 5 of the Top 10 spots (Anthropic, OpenAI, Stripe, Databricks, and Anduril). China accounts for 3 entries (ByteDance, Ant Group, and Shein), while the UK (Revolut) and Malta (Binance) hold 1 spot each.
Table 1: Global Unicorn Index 2026 TOP 10
Source: Hurun Research Institute, Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2026
↑ Rank Up YoY ↓ Rank Down YoY – No change YoY * New to Top 10
Where are the World’s Unicorns based?
The world’s unicorns come from 52 countries, an increase of 117% from 2019, spread around 299 cities, an increase of 153% from 2019, and down from 307 from last year.
The USA led the world with 806 unicorns (adding 48), followed by China with 381 (adding 38). The UK overtook India for third place. Singapore overtook Israel and South Korea for 8th place.
The fastest growing city for unicorns was San Francisco, adding 23 in one year, followed by London, Beijing, Palo Alto, Shanghai and Austin.
By city, San Francisco retained the title of ‘World Unicorn Capital’ with 222 unicorns (gaining 23), followed by New York with 141. In China, the top unicorn strongholds are Beijing with 86, Shanghai with 74, Shenzhen with 44, Hangzhou with 25, and Guangzhou with 24. In Europe, London leads with 60, followed by Paris with 27, and Berlin with 16. In India, Bengaluru led with 25, followed by Mumbai with 13. In Asia, outside of China, Singapore led with 20 ahead of Seoul with 14.
Table 2: Countries and cities where the world’s unicorns are based
Source: Hurun Research Institute, Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2026
↑ Rank Up YoY ↓ Rank Down YoY – No change YoY * New to Top 10
What industries do they come from?
Eight years ago, the Unicorns were dominated by e-commerce, before shifting to FinTech. Today, Artificial Intelligence has taken centre stage, accounting for 36% of total Unicorn value and driving the fastest growth in the global startup ecosystem. Alongside FinTech and SaaS, these sectors now represent around one-third of all Unicorns, while industries such as semiconductors, cybersecurity, robotics and clean energy continue to gain momentum. Together, the rankings highlight how innovation is increasingly centred on technologies powering the future economy.
Table 3: Core Industries of the Unicorns
Source: Hurun Research Institute, Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2026
↑ Rank Up YoY ↓ Rank Down YoY – No change YoY * New to Top 10
Who's Up?
610 unicorns saw their valuation increase, of which 308 were new unicorns. The valuation increases and new unicorns came to US$3.6Tn, of which new unicorns made up US$724Bn.
The biggest jumps in valuation were Anthropic and OpenAI.
The new unicorns came from the US (156), China (80), and the Rest of the World (72), led by China-based DeepSeek, and US-based Project Prometheus. By city, San Francisco led with 48 new unicorns, followed by Beijing and NYC with 22 each, while London recorded 18, and Shanghai, Palo Alto, and Shenzhen followed with 18, 14, and 10.
Of the companies promoted from last year’s Global Unicorn List, the USA led with 76 promotions (34 IPOs and 42 mergers/acquisitions), while China followed with 29 promotions (26 IPOs and 3 acquisitions). You would have made a lot of money had you invested in any of these. SpaceX has gone up 6-fold, whilst Zhipu AI has achieved a scarcely believable 43x in just one year.
Of the new faces to this year’s index, two prediction market unicorns burst onto the scene: Kalshi (US$22Bn) and Polymarket (US$9Bn). One surprise in this age of AI was Chobani, which has popularised Greek yogurt and is now valued at US$20Bn.
Top 10 New Faces
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DeepSeek — $50B valuation | China | Artificial Intelligence | Founded 2023
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Project Prometheus — $38B valuation | USA | Artificial Intelligence | Founded 2025
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Kalshi — $22B valuation | USA | FinTech | Founded 2018
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Chobani — $20B valuation | USA | Food & Beverages | Founded 2014
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Sierra — $16B valuation | USA | Artificial Intelligence | Founded 2023
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Nscale — $15B valuation | UK | Artificial Intelligence | Founded 2023
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Thinking Machines Lab — $12B valuation | USA | Artificial Intelligence | Founded 2022
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Labs — $10B valuation | USA | Artificial Intelligence | Founded 2012
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Polymarket — $9.0B valuation | USA | FinTech | Founded 2025
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Kraken Technologies — $8.7B valuation | UK | SaaS | Founded 2019
Key Statistics for Global Unicorn Index
Table 4: Key Statistics for Global Unicorn Index
Source: Hurun Research Institute, Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2026
↑ Rank Up YoY ↓ Rank Down YoY – No change YoY * New to Top 10
Methodology
The Global Unicorn Index is compiled by the Hurun Research Institute and includes unlisted companies founded in the 2000s with a current valuation of US$1Bn or more.
The cut-off for this year’s index was 1 January 2026, with significant valuation changes updated up to the date of release. SpaceX, for example, was a unicorn at the cut-off date, but has since graduated, so has been taken off the list.
Many of the world’s top investment houses provided details of their portfolio, which the Hurun Research team cross-checked against specialised investment databases, industry experts, media sources, as well as unicorn co-founders.
Valuing unicorns can be tricky. The very nature of these super-fast-growing companies makes valuations hard to pin down, but to ensure consistency of the valuations, Hurun Research used the most recent valuation based on a sizeable round. Where it becomes harder is when a unicorn is underperforming or on its way down, since founders and investors are mostly loath to want to announce a down-round. In this case, Hurun Research used industry comparatives to ascertain a new lower valuation.
Startups like US-based Signal are not on the Hurun Global Unicorns Index because they have not commercialised their platforms.
Unicorns leave the Hurun Global Unicorn Index either by being ‘promoted’, ie, by listing on a public exchange (IPO) or being acquired, or by being ‘demoted’, when their value drops below US$1Bn.
Hurun Research Institute has been tracking unicorns since 2017.
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Global Unicorn Index 2026 TOP 100
For the full index of 1603 Unicorns, see www.hurun.net