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ByteDance overtakes Ant Group as the world’s most valuable unicorn, Hurun rankings show
- ByteDance has a valuation of US$350 billion compared with Ant Group’s US$150 billion
- Of the 1,058 unicorns globally, China had 301 start-ups versus 487 in the US
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TikTok-owner ByteDance surpassed Ant Group to become the world’s largest unicorn, with start-ups from the US and China continuing to dominate the landscape, according to the latest Hurun Global Unicorn Index. This is despite Chinese companies coming under regulatory scrutiny both at home and in the US.
Of the 1,058 unicorns – start-ups valued at more than US$1 billion – globally as of November this year, China had 301 start-ups, the most after the 487 in the US, according to this year’s index released by Shanghai-based Hurun Research Institute on Monday.
Beijing-based ByteDance, whose flagship app TikTok has 1 billion monthly active users globally and is viewed as a serious challenger to Facebook, saw its valuation surge nearly 30 per cent to US$350 billion, from US$270 billion last year.
Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding and operator of online payment platform Alipay, was valued at US$150 billion. Analysts behind Ant’s US$39.5 billion initial public offering that was withdrawn at the last minute in November last year had pegged its then near-term valuation between US$350 billion and US$450 billion. Alibaba also owns this newspaper.
“2021 is officially the most successful year for start-ups ever,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of privately held Hurun Report. “The countries with the most unicorns give a picture of which countries have the world’s best start-up ecosystems.”
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