ByteDance remains world's top unicorn

TikTok-owner ByteDance became the world's largest unicorn company for the third consecutive year with 1.56 trillion yuan (HK$1.72 trillion), according to Hurun's Global Unicorn Index 2024.

SpaceX ranked second with a value of 1.28 trillion yuan, while OpenAI climbed 14 places to third place, with 710 billion yuan.

The research institute listed non-public companies worldwide founded after 2000 and valued at over US$1 billion (HK$7.8 billion). The top 10 saw a combined growth value of 1.4 trillion yuan - nearly half of the total growth of the list.

Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher, said the total number of globally known unicorn companies has reached a record of nearly 1,500, with a new unicorn being born every two days worldwide in the past year alone. China has witnessed the emergence of more than one new unicorn per week on average over the past year, he added.

Other Chinese startups in the top 10 include Alipay operator Ant, fast fashion retailer Shein, and Tencent's (0700) digital bank WeBank.