Currently, there are 409 unicorn companies in China, ranking second in the world; the total valuation of unicorn companies is about US$1.5 trillion, and the financing capabilities of hard technology unicorn companies are strong... The latest research data shows that Chinese unicorn companies play an important role in the development of the new economy, showing strong innovation capabilities and market potential.

The reporter noticed that many places have recently introduced support measures to build a mechanism for discovering and cultivating and expanding gazelle enterprises and unicorn enterprises, strengthen the empowerment and support in innovation, finance, talent, etc., and help unicorn enterprises grow more and run.

The global number of enterprises accounts for nearly 30%

Recently, the "China Unicorn Enterprise Development Report (2025)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") jointly released by the Zhongguancun Unicorn Enterprise Development Alliance, the Institute of Science and Standards of the China Electronic Information Industry Development Research Institute, and the China Science and Technology Policy Research Center of Tsinghua University shows that currently, there are 409 unicorn enterprises in China, accounting for nearly 30% of the world's unicorn enterprises, ranking second in the world; the total valuation of related companies is about US$1,506.8 billion.

Unicorn companies generally refer to unlisted companies that have been established for no more than 10 years, have a valuation of more than US$1 billion, and have unique core technologies, unique competitive advantages and market potential.

It is worth noting that unicorn companies in emerging industries are growing rapidly and are attracting much attention from the capital market. The above-mentioned report shows that 409 unicorn companies are distributed in 12 fields. In terms of quantity, the number of enterprises in the fields of new consumption and retail, artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, intelligent equipment, and medical and health ranked among the top five, accounting for a total of 68.0%. From the perspective of valuation, unicorn companies in the fields of artificial intelligence, new consumption and retail, and integrated circuits ranked among the top three, with valuations of US$461.2 billion, US$203.9 billion and US$192.5 billion respectively.

"Unicorn companies have the characteristics of strong innovation ability, good growth potential and high market recognition, and are the "barometer" of the development of the new economy." Cheng Nan, director of the Institute of Science and Standards of the China Institute of Electronic Information Industry Development, said that in particular, hard technology unicorn companies have developed rapidly and demonstrated strong financing capabilities. In 2024, nearly 60% of newly-financial unicorn companies are concentrated in fields such as artificial intelligence, new energy technology, autonomous driving and robots.

Many places continue to release policy benefits

Today, a series of policy favorable policies are continuing to be released to promote the development of unicorn enterprises. This year's government work report proposes to cultivate innovative enterprises in a gradient manner, promote the development and growth of specialized, specialized, and new small and medium-sized enterprises, support the development of unicorn enterprises and gazelle enterprises, and allow more enterprises to accelerate in new fields and new tracks.

The reporter noticed that recently, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Zhejiang, Sichuan and other places have successively introduced relevant support measures to focus on emerging industries and key areas of future industries, and to build a mechanism for discovering and cultivating and expanding gazelle enterprises and unicorn enterprises.

For example, the "Shenzhen Action Plan for Effectively Supporting the Development of Gazelle Enterprises and Unicorn Enterprises (2025-2027)" recently issued proposes to focus on the "20+8" strategic emerging industry clusters and future industrial fields, discover through multiple channels, establish a gradient cultivation database for gazelle enterprises and unicorn enterprises. By 2027, a total of 1,000 gazelle enterprises and 80 unicorn enterprises will be cultivated.

Sichuan plans to accelerate the cultivation of a group of seed unicorn companies. Its main business and core technologies belong to the industries such as electronic information, aerospace, and biomanufacturing, and new future industries such as 6G, quantum technology, meta-universe, brain-like intelligence, and deep space deep earth, as well as new tracks in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence and embodied intelligence.

"Unicorn companies often have breakthrough technologies, innovative business models or unique services, which can subvert the existing market structure or open up a new market track." An Yun, deputy director of the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute of Saizhi Industrial Research Institute, believes that the emergence and growth of unicorn companies can strongly attract the gathering of high-end innovation factors such as talents, capital, and technology, promote the deep coupling and efficient coordination of the industrial chain and the innovation chain, optimize the overall local industrial structure, and stimulate regional innovation vitality.

Take multiple measures to help enterprises grow

While making unicorn enterprises and gazelle enterprises more, we will further make efforts to improve the innovation ecosystem, strengthen financial empowerment, and increase talent guarantees, and support the growth and growth of unicorn enterprises and gazelle enterprises.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology previously stated that it will support unicorn enterprises' technological innovation, encourage and guide unicorn enterprises to carry out technological research around national strategic needs, and master more "unique skills". Increase financial support for unicorn companies, give full play to the role of industrial and financial cooperation platforms, and support unicorn companies to go public, mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, etc.

In addition, Shenzhen proposed to effectively play the role of government-guided funds, and various policy funds are given priority to invest in gazelle enterprises and unicorn enterprise gradient cultivation database enterprises; relying on financial institutions, tailor financial service plans for each gazelle enterprise and unicorn enterprise, promote the "investment and loan linkage" model, and provide portfolio financing support according to corporate needs.

Changsha Economic and Technological Development Zone proposed to give rewards of up to 1 million yuan and 200,000 yuan to newly rated unicorn enterprises and gazelle enterprises respectively.

"The growth of unicorn enterprises requires the company's own technological strength, and on the other hand, it also requires a good development environment." Cheng Nan said that in the future, the innovation space and resources of enterprises can be further expanded, the innovation incubators can be further developed, and the deep integration of science and technology and finance can be promoted, and more capital support and market opportunities can be provided for innovative enterprises; enterprises can be encouraged to increase R&D efforts, and form a technological innovation system with enterprises as the main body, market-oriented, and deep integration of industry, academia and research; improve the intellectual property protection system, and promote the rapid development and marketization of new technologies and new products.

An Yun said that it is necessary to further build a full-cycle policy support system and implement differentiated support measures for enterprises in different development stages; increase fiscal and tax incentives in basic research and core technology fields, innovate talent introduction mechanisms, and strengthen international talent service guarantees; promote the sharing of major scientific research facilities, improve the efficiency of scientific and technological achievements transformation, establish special funds for emerging industries, and further guide social capital to tilt towards early hard science and technology projects. (Reporter Guo Qian)

[Editor in charge: Zhao Qiuyue]