TikTok’s parent company – ByteDance becomes the world’s most valuable super unicorn, higher than Ant Group and SpaceX combined

According to Hurun’s latest Global Unicorn Ranking, TikTok’s owner ByteDance has surpassed Ant Group to become the world’s largest unicorn. And the data shows that US and Chinese startups are still growing despite the fact that Chinese companies are subject to restrictive policies and regulatory tightening from both at home and in the US.

According to the ranking of the Shanghai-based Hurun Research Institute published on December 20, as of November 2021, out of 1,058 unicorns (startups worth more than $1 billion) globally , in terms of number of unicorns, the US ranks first with 487 companies, followed by China with 301 startups. India and the United Kingdom ranked third and fourth in the ranking of countries with the most unicorns in the world with 54 and 39 unicorns respectively.

The value of Beijing-based ByteDance has increased by nearly 30% from $270 billion in 2020 to $350 billion. ByteDance owns the social networking platform Tiktok with 1 billion monthly active users globally and is considered a top competitor to Facebook.

Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding and operator of online payment platform Alipay, is valued at $150 billion.

Rupert Hoogewerf, President and Head of Research for the Hurun Report commented: “The year 2021 is truly the most successful year for startups ever. The countries with the most unicorns show a a clear picture of which country has the best startup ecosystem in the world”.

According to the report, the 10 largest global unicorns account for 25% of the total value of the world’s unicorns reaching $3.7 trillion. 4 of them are from the US; 3 Chinese unicorns; Australia, Great Britain and Sweden each have a unicorn.

SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by electric car giant Tesla CEO Elon Musk in 2002, has risen two places to become the third most valuable startup in the world. The Los Angeles-based company is now valued at $100 billion, making it the largest unicorn in the US.

According to a Hurun report, while the US and China dominate the global unicorn market with 74%, the rest of the world has increased its share to 26% this year from just 17% two years ago.

Among the global cities with the most unicorns, San Francisco topped the list with 151 unicorns, surpassing Beijing at 91. New York, Shanghai and Shenzhen respectively top the top 5 with 85, 71 and 32 unicorns.

While half of the world’s unicorns are companies operating in fintech, SaaS (software as a service), e-commerce, artificial intelligence, health technology and cybersecurity, the metaverse – the latest field that has attracted the interest of many companies – has yet to record a single unicorn company.