Singapore has ranked fourth in the world for how quickly its startups became unicorns, according to a global ranking of British price comparison website Money.co.uk.
Singapore currently has six unicorns and it took an average of six years and 11 months to exceed US $ 1 billion in valuation.
It shares fourth place along with the United States, which has 378 unicorn companies, and Australia has six unicorn companies.
China tops the list, as 155 of its companies took an average of just five years and 10 months to achieve unicorn status.
Second place is Hong Kong, where it took an average of six years and a month, followed by Japan with six years and three months.
According to cbinsights.com, there are currently only 750 unicorns in the world.
Money.co.uk also noted that the most performing sector when it came time to reach a US $ 1 billion valuation was automotive and transportation, all 31 unicorns of which took an average of four years and five months.
Meanwhile, fiintech produced most unicorns with 131 such emerging companies, followed by e-commerce and direct consumer companies with 82 unicorns.
Who are the unicorns of S’pore?
Although Money.co.uk claimed that there are six unicorns in Singapore, according to cbinsights.com seven unicorns in Singapore However.
Of Singapore’s unicorns, Grab, the leading “superapplication” in Southeast Asia, has the highest valuation at $ 14.3 million.
Founded by Harvard graduates Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi-Ling, it has gone beyond being just a specialized app. It now offers a variety of services under its umbrella, including food, groceries and parcels, hotel and attraction reservations, as well as financial services such as loans, insurance and investments.
Singapore’s second unicorn is Hyalroute. Founded by Xinglong Huang, it operates a multi-fiber universal connection point that provides the highest values of international network coverage, redundancy and continuity.
Meanwhile, Trax’s marketing solution enables retailers to increase sales, manage costs, and invent new experiences for their customers at all stages of the shopping journey.
The remaining four companies on the list have a combined valuation of US $ 1 billion and this year have just been minted as ‘unicorns’.
Fintech NIUM is the latest addition to raise more than $ 200 million in a Series D round led by the U.S.-based Riverwood Capital.
Other prominent sponsors were Temasek, Visa, Vertex Ventures, Beacon Venture Capital and Rocket Capital. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC, also joined the round.
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Featured Image Credit: Reuters / PatSnap / Carro / The Economic Times
