Last month, firms on The Crunchbase Unicorn Board surpassed $1 trillion in collective funding for the first time, a recent milestone for the board, which compiles a list of enterprise capital-backed private firms around the world with valuations exceeding billions of dollars. At the end of the 12 months, the management board counted a total of 1,562 unicorns, excluding firms that left the company or closed their operations after joining.
In 2024, a total of 109 firms joined our unicorn board, adding nearly $250 billion in value and $53 billion in funding. Compare that to 2023, when 100 firms joined and added nearly $145 billion in value.
The most appreciated recent unicorn of 2024 was xAIwhich first joined in May, valuing it at $24 billion. Six months later, its valuation doubled to $50 billion in a recent round of financing.
Meanwhile, the largest round raised by a unicorn company in 2024 was Data cubesA $10 billion deal with a valuation of $62 billion. Databricks joined the board in February 2019, when it was valued at $2.75 billion.
Leading countries
The United States is definitely the leader, where 64 recent unicorns were minted in 2024. China hosted 16 recent unicorns, India six and the UK five. Last 12 months, three recent unicorns were born in Singapore, and two recent unicorns each were born in Brazil, France, Germany and Hong Kong.
December unicorns minted
It’s no surprise that AI has led to the creation of latest unicorns in December 2024. Here are the nine newly minted December unicorns by sector.
artificial intelligence
- AI cloud storage provider Vultr raised $333 million in funding under leadership AMD venturesAMD’s enterprise arm i LuminArx Capital Management. The 10-year-old Florida company was valued at $3.5 billion.
- Any spherecreator of AI coding assistant Cursor, raised $100 million in a Series B round he led Develop capital. Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive led a $60 million Series A financing 4 months earlier, when Anysphere said it had 40,000 customers. The two-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $2.6 billion in the Series B round.
- Fluid artificial intelligencemaker of smaller entry-level models, raised $250 million in Series A funding led by AMD Ventures. The year-old Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company was valued at $2.3 billion.
- Setting up the labsoptical artificial intelligence for faster data transmission, raised $155 million in Series D, led by International Advent AND The capital of Light Street. The nine-year-old San Jose, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.
- An artificial intelligence company for language learning To talkwhich facilitates real-time communication, raised $78 million in a Series C round led by him Speed up. The eight-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.
- Modelowa Foundation StepStar conquered the B series led by State-owned capital investment in Shanghai. The one-year-old Shanghai-based company was valued at $1 billion.
Fintech
- Fintech mobile application Oneof which he is the majority owner Walmartraised a $300 million corporate round led by Walmart and Ribbit Capital. The two-year-old New York-based company was valued at $2.8 billion.
- Digital bank Tyme Group raised $250 million in a Series D round led by a Brazilian digital bank Nubank. The 12-year-old Singapore company was valued at $1.5 billion. Tyme says it has 15 million customers in South Africa and the Philippines and plans to expand into Vietnam and Indonesia.
Robotics
- An organization that deals with cleansing robots Narwhal Robotics raised a series D, which valued the 8-year-old company at $1.4 billion, led by state-owned enterprises. HongShanpreviously called Sequoia Capital China, led the Series C financing.
December exits
In December, 4 firms left the Unicorn management board: three by going public and one as a results of takeover.
- Glendale, California ServiceTitanprovider of software for home services firms, went public with a valuation of $6.3 billion, and its shares rose 42% on the first day of trading. The company’s last known private valuation was its 2021 Series G, which valued it at $9.5 billion.
- A semiconductor company based in Guangdong, China Ignorance listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at a valuation of $3.5 billion – barely above the $3.2 billion Series E valuation in April 2024.
- Based in India MobiKwik, payment and credit service providers, made public on National Stock Exchange India price $250 million. The October 2021 secondary financing valued the company at $1 billion.
- Document collaboration platform Codabased in San Francisco was taken over by the text editor Grammatically. The price was not disclosed. Coda raised $240 million and was last valued at $1.4 billion in July 2021.
Methodology
The Crunchbase Unicorn Board is a curated list of personal unicorn firms with a post-money valuation of at least $1 billion, based on Crunchbase data. There are recent firms added to the Unicorn Board after it reached $1 billion in funding round.
The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations – corresponding to those determined through the 409a process for worker stock options – because they are different from the valued financing round and will most probably be lower. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor write-downs, which change quarterly, because different investors won’t value the same company consistently in the same quarter.
Unicorn company financing includes all private financing of firms designated as unicorns, in addition to people who have since transformed into Coming out unicorn board.
The exits analyzed here include only the firm’s first exit.
Please note that every one financing amounts are in US dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign exchange to U.S. dollars at the spot rate in effect on the date financing rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if these events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, currency transactions are converted at the historical spot price.