(Source: TechStartups.com)

Chinese TechFin company Ant Group topped the Hurun Global Unicorn Index of 2020 with a valuation of 1 trillion yuan ($150 billion), according to Hurun Research Institute’s ranking of the world’s unicorns. The term has been used to describe startups founded in the 2000s, worst at least 1 billion dollars and not listed on a public exchange.

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, Chinese ride-hailing giant DiDi Chuxing and online wealth management company Lufax also made headlines with valuations of 560 billion yuan ($80 billion), 370 billion yuan ($55 billion) and 270 billion yuan ($38 billion), respectively.

“We have found 586 unicorns in the world,” Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said. “These young companies, only nine years old on average, are the world’s most exciting start-ups, leading a new generation of disruptive technology and attracting the world’s top young talent.”

Hurun Research worked with 586 unicorns in the world, based in 29 countries and 145 cities. 80% of them are selling software and services, and 60% are consumer-facing. 5% were in traditional sectors, with the majority disrupting financial services, retail, entertainment, business management solutions, healthcare, logistics and automobile. Hurun has been tracking China’s top unicorns for the past three years, starting with the Hurun China Unicorn Index.

Hangzhou-based Ant Group, the parent company of China’s largest online payment service Alipay and the affiliate of Alibaba Group, has been the world’s largest unicorn since 2018. The TechFin company recently announced its plans of a concurrent initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR board and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. Hong Kong media reported on Tuesday that the company is targeting to raise $30 billion for its dual-listing plans as soon as September. It will drop out from the list if the IPO proceeds, however.

Meanwhile, ByteDance, the owner behind the recent potential TikTok takeover, received a new round of investment led by Tiger Fund in March this year, valuing the eight-year-old startup at $80 billion.

The list also shows that both the United States and China have continued to dominate 80% of the world’s best-known unicorns. The U.S. beat China to lead by 233 over 227, together accounting for 79% of the world’s unicorns.

“The dominance of the US and China is such that they each have more than four times the number of unicorns in Europe, which today has 58 companies,” said Hoogewerf. “The rest of the world needs to wake up to provide an ecosystem that allows unicorns to flourish.”

This is the second year of the Hurun Global Unicorn Index, and follows on from six quarterly Hurun China Unicorn Indices. Valuations are a snapshot of March 31, 2020.

The original article can be found at https://pandaily.com/ant-group-tops-hurun-global-unicorn-list-2020-followed-by-bytedance-didi-chuxing/

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