Korea's number of unicorn corporations (unlisted companies valued at 1 trillion won ($1 billion) or more) came to 13, ranking 11th in the world. That is an increase of two over the past four years since COVID-19. In the same period, the United States added 229 unicorn corporations.
The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced on the 3rd the results of an analysis of CB Insights' global list of unicorn corporations. Unicorn corporations are unlisted corporations with a valuation of $1 billion or more.
As of the end of Oct. this year, there were 1,276 unicorn corporations worldwide. Of these, U.S. corporations numbered 717, accounting for 56.2%.
Compared with 2021, during the COVID-19 period, U.S. unicorn corporations increased by 229 over four years, accounting for 72.2% of the total increase. By contrast, Korea rose from 11 to 13, an increase of two. Excluding China, where unicorn corporations decreased by 19 during the same period, this is the lowest level among countries worldwide.
By industry distribution of unicorn corporations, the top 10 countries had the most unicorn corporations in artificial intelligence (AI) and information technology (IT) solutions (36.3%). In contrast, Korea had the most in the consumer and retail (46.1%) sector.
Korea also appeared to be relatively slower in growing into unicorn corporations. Korean corporations took an average of 8.99 years from founding to becoming unicorns. China was the fastest at 6.27 years, and the top 10 countries holding the most unicorn corporations—Germany (6.48 years), the United States (6.70 years), Israel (6.89 years), and others—averaged 6.97 years.