Unicorns: The Private Startup Companies
The meaning of the words changes with the changing context. A virus might be Ebola but, in the tech world it is the malicious software.
Unicorns: The Private Startup Companies
By
Sana Hassan
The meaning of the words changes with the changing context. A virus might be Ebola but, in the tech world it is the malicious software. The register could be a notebook to jot down words or it could mean the sign up for something. An account could be a bank account or a Facebook account or it could mean the recollection of something. If you are into fairy tales or stories with mythical creatures like dragons and giants, as in Game of Thrones, unicorn would be a horse with one spiral horn on its head. In the world of business the meaning is entirely different.
What are unicorns?
Unicorns are the private, start-up companies that have the worth of 1 billion or more. The word ‘Uni’ signifies the lower limit of at least 1 billion. The word unicorn on the whole highlights the rarity and the small number of such successful ventures. The term was coined by Anileen Lee in the year 2013. Thus, it is a relatively new term.
The related terms
Many other related terms have been introduced that are related to the term unicorn. Two of these are Decacorn and Hectocorn. As the name indicates, Decacorns are companies that have a valuation of over 10 billion. Hectocorns are the companies that are worth more than 100 billion. This provided segregation between the companies that worth more than 10 billion from a new unicorn.
Latest trends
The idea of start-up companies that will reach the value of 1 billion or more is spreading rapidly. There are more unicorns set up during the last 5 years then there were a decade ago. The number of these start-ups is particularly high in China these days. The already established companies are mostly U.S. based.
Some known Unicorns and Decacorns of 2019
Today the total number of these companies around the world is 311 quotes cbinsights.com. This number is continuously increasing.
• Uber (decacorn)
• SpaceX(decacorn)
• Xiaomi(decacorn)
• Buzz feed(unicorn)
• Instacart(unicorn)
• Pinterest(decacorn)
• Snapdeal(unicorn)
The famous companies like Dropbox, Tumblr, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Yelp etc. were the earliest members of this club back when the term was first introduced.
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Future Horizons
There is a problem faced by these companies especially with the investments but the improvements are being made in this sector to set up more and more companies that are sustainable and fail proof. This prediction is that the number of these companies will continue to increase and they will also cover other different industries, not just the technology.