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UNICORNS
Once Rare and US-Centric
In venture capital, a Unicorn is a privately-held tech company
valued at more than $1 billion. The term was coined in 2013 by
Aileen Lee, the founder of Cowboy Ventures, when she sorted
through 60,000 US-based software and internet companies that
received funding between 2003 and 2013 and found that just 39
tech companies were valued at $1B+. She called them Unicorns
to highlight how rare these companies were at the time.
No Longer Rare and Increasingly Global
Fast forward to today, Unicorns are no longer rare; and they are
increasingly global. As of June 30, 2021; there were 750 "Unicorn"
companies. Nearly 1/4 of which are outside the US, China, and
India — what we are calling "Rest of World".
Source: CB Insights
