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Unicorn (Finance)

G - Financial Economics

In business, a unicorn is a privately owned startup company valued at over 1 billion US dollars that is not listed on a public share market. Venture capitalist Aileen Lee coined the term in 2013, choosing the mythical animal to represent what she called the statistical rarity of such successful ventures. At the time, only 39 companies qualified as unicorns; by May 2024 the research firm CB Insights counted 1,248 unicorns worldwide. Many unicorns saw sharp valuation declines in 2022 amid a broader economic slowdown, rising interest rates, market volatility and tighter regulatory scrutiny. The term has since spawned a small vocabulary of related labels for even larger private valuations, including decacorn for companies valued above 10 billion dollars and hectocorn for those valued above 100 billion dollars. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Field
Venture capital and startup finance 1
Proposed By
Aileen Lee, venture capitalist, in a 2013 TechCrunch article 1
Origin Year
2013 1
Significance
Tracks the rarity of billion-dollar privately held startups; CB Insights identified 1,248 unicorns worldwide as of May 2024, and higher tiers (decacorn, centicorn, hectocorn, terracorn) have since been coined for larger valuations. 1
Sources
1. Unicorn (finance) (Wikipedia)
  • Lead section
    The term was coined in 2013 by venture capitalist Aileen Lee, choosing the mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of such successful ventures.
  • History section
    Aileen Lee originated the term "unicorn" in a 2013 TechCrunch article, "Welcome To The Unicorn Club: Learning from Billion-Dollar Startups".
  • Lead section, second paragraph
    CB Insights identified 1,248 unicorns worldwide as of May 2024.
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