Global growth is slowing – in some places, quite dramatically. The downward drift in economic activity poses the question of how unicorns will – companies valued at $1 billion or more –do in the coming year. Here’s a look at the unicorn picture right now according to private equity data provider Pitchbook.
Unicorns Overall
The first look that follows is of the number of unicorn creations around the world. The most recent count for March 2022 is 46 unicorn creations at total valuations of $102 billion. This is a fair amount below the all-time high of 64 in September 2021 for total valuations of $137 billion.
Among the newly minted unicorns included Bavaria Natural Environment of Hong Kong ($13 billion valuation), Binance.US ($4.7 billion), and Immutable of Australia ($2.5 billion).
North America
Shifting to North America, the March 2022 count came to 29 unicorns at a total valuation of $52 billion. The top North American company to grab unicorn status was the previously-mentioned Binance.US at $4.7 billion. Binance.US raised $200 million in their most recent round of financing. Behind Binance.US was SandboxAQ at $4.0 billion on a newly raised round of $1.5 billion, Board Ape Yacht Club at a $4.0 billion valuation on a $450 million funding round, and A24 Films at $2.3 billion on a $225 million funding round.
Asia
Shifting to Asia, the number of newly minted unicorns is off substantially from their September 2021 high of 21 with total valuations of $38.7 billion. The March 2022 figure was 8 new unicorns with total valuations of about $32 billion. The aforementioned Bavaria Natural Environment came in at $13.0 billion on $750 million in new funding. Bavaria was followed by Soterea at $10 billion on a $200 million funding round, Changan New Energy Vehicles Technology at $2 billion on $1.2 billion in newly minted funding, and Perfios at $2 billion on $124 million in new funding. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Asian group of companies is dominated by firms headquartered in China, India, and South Korea.
Summing Up
Overall, although economic growth is slowing, the world’s creators are still creating enormous wealth. Around the world, the world’s best minds in fintech, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cryptocurrency, and a host of other sectors are creating for the future, a future that will likely be bettered by these creative entrepreneurial minds.
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