UK overtakes India in global unicorn race as AI tally rises
Driven by a surge in AI and fintech valuations, the global unicorn count has climbed to a record 1,603 businesses.
The United Kingdom has overtaken India to secure third place globally in the race to create privately held tech giants, propelled by a surge in financial technology and artificial intelligence (AI) enterprises.
The UK now boasts 70 unicorns — unlisted start-ups founded after 2000 with a minimum valuation of $1 billion — an addition of nine more from the previous year, according to a report by the Hurun Research Institute.
India dropped to fourth place as its domestic count fell by three to 61 unicorns. Within India’s borders, the tech hub of Bengaluru led with 25 of these high-value start-ups, followed by Mumbai with 13.
Despite the domestic dip, Indian entrepreneurs continue to exert massive global influence.
“Indians co-founded 217 unicorns — 156 are abroad, led by 142 in the US, and 61 on home soil — together valued at $599 billion. From Perplexity AI and Anysphere to Zerodha and Razorpay, Indian founders are simultaneously building the world’s AI stack, pioneering global fintech, and transforming one of its largest domestic economies. India is not simply producing entrepreneurs; it is producing the architects of the global economy,” Hurun Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said.
US Leads
Globally, the US maintained its commanding lead at the top of the index, housing 806 unicorns after adding 48 to its tally over the past year. China retained the second spot with 381 unicorns, marking a net increase of 38. Together, the world’s two largest economies account for about 74 per cent of the global total.
Further down the national rankings, Singapore moved up to eighth place, overtaking Israel and South Korea. Singapore is home to 20 unicorns, while Israel has 17 and South Korea counts 16.
The total number of unicorns globally reached a record 1,603, representing an increase of 5.3 per cent, or 80 start-ups, over the year. These companies are now spread across 52 countries, which represents an increase of 117 per cent from 2019 levels. They are concentrated within 299 cities, an increase of 153 per cent compared to 2019, though down slightly from the 307 cities recorded last year.
San Francisco extended its title as the undisputed ‘World Unicorn Capital’ and emerged as the fastest-growing city globally, adding 23 unicorns in a single year to reach a total of 222. London was the second-fastest growing hub, followed in descending order by Beijing, Palo Alto, Shanghai, and Austin.
By city concentrations, New York followed San Francisco with 141 unicorns. In China, the primary unicorn strongholds are Beijing with 86, Shanghai with 74, Shenzhen with 44, Hangzhou with 25, and Guangzhou with 24.
In Europe, London leads the regional rankings with 60 unicorns, followed by Paris with 27 and Berlin with 16. Across Asia, outside of China’s dominant strongholds, Singapore led the pack with 20 companies, ahead of Seoul which houses 14.
The meteoric rise of the sector has been heavily driven by an AI boom, which pushed the collective valuation of the world’s unicorns up 43 per cent to $8 trillion. Financial technology (FinTech) and AI now share the crown as the world’s leading startup sectors, counting 216 and 215 unicorns respectively. Software and services dominate the broader landscape, accounting for about 74 per cent of all listed entities.
