A new report has revealed that China has surpassed the US to become the biggest hub for unicorns or privately owned companies worth at least $1 billion.
A report by wealth research firm Hurun stated that China is home to 206 unicorns, which places it slightly ahead of the US, which currently has 203 such firms. Combined, the two countries currently host over 80% of the total unicorns in the world.
China currently has the most number of unicorns in the e-commerce, electric car and healthcare industries while the US leads in the sectors of cloud computing, artificial intelligence and life science.
Hurun also reported that the city of Beijing has overtaken San Francisco to become the world's "unicorn capital," with 82 unicorns compared with the US city's 55 firms. The startup boom has been driven by China's initiatives toward independent technology development.
The Chinese government has been urging its companies to become less dependent on foreign technology and dominate key sectors in the next decade, especially with the ongoing trade war with the US.
Rupert Hoogewerf, the chairman and founder of Hurun, "Three years ago, on our global rich list, China overtook the United States for the first time in the number of billionaires. Today, China surpassed the United States for the first time in the number of unicorns."
Hurun's count of Chinese unicorns is higher than other research firms, such as CB Insights, which only recorded 99 unicorns in China in October. China is home to the world's three most valuable unicorns, namely Ant Financial, an affiliate of Chinese tech giant Alibaba valued at $150 billion, Bytedance, valued at $75 billion, and Didi Chuxing, valued at $55 billion.
Hoogewerf said: "We are trying to have a more complete count of unicorns in the local market. China has such a big economy, a huge population and a thriving new economy, it's hard to image it only has 80 to 90 unicorns." He pointed out that many of the Chinese unicorns are not popular in the international scene.
