GLOBAL STARTUP FUNDING
DISCOVERING
UNICORNS
What is a Unicorn?
Named after this mythical creature because of their rareness, unicorns are startups with a valuation above $1 Billion.
The chance that a seed-funded startup becomes a unicorn just in the US. Globally, the chance for a new startup is 0.00006%.
Who raises Unicorns ?
Unicorns tend to be characterized by raising capital rapidly to aid their hyper growth. The following dashboard explores funding activity by country, industry and startup.
4.5
The average number of funding rounds for a unicorn startup as of 2019.
$400M
The average deal size for billion-dollar startups as of 2019.
How are Unicorns raised?
Funding activity as well the the type has changed dramatically over the last decade. The following visualization* compares and explores the funding paths taken by startups based on industry.
*80% of all startups had at most 6 funding rounds. Thus, for better visibility we cut all the funding cycles after round 6.
Globally, it takes an average of 7 years for a startup to achieve unicorn status without being acquired or going IPO.
3 in 10 unicorns exited in the last decade. Hardly profitable, investors look for an exit in the form of an IPO, acquisition or merger to make a return on their capital.
Henrieke Baunack
M.Eng Industrial Eng. & Operations Research
Johnson Kanjirathinkal
M.Eng Industrial Eng. & Operations Research