China added 74 unicorns in 2022, maintaining steady pace of growth despite fundraising crunch

China minted 74 new unicorns last year, falling further behind the US but maintaining a steady pace of growth, according to a new report published by Forbes China.

In 2022, the US added 182 unicorns – start-ups valued at more than US$1 billion – accounting for more than half of the world’s 330 new unicorns in total, according to Forbes data.

The two countries continue to be the world’s top two when it comes to creating billion-dollar start-ups, together accounting for 77 per cent of all new unicorns added globally.

But new unicorns born in the US in 2022 dropped roughly 28 per cent from the previous year, while China maintained the same number. In 2021, the US created 254 new unicorns while China also created 74, according to the Hurun Global Unicorn Index.

China’s number of unicorns grew last year despite an overall fundraising slump amid economic headwinds, including pandemic-related supply chain disruption. In 2022, the number of private equity investment deals in China dropped 13.6 per cent from the previous year, while volume dropped 36.2 per cent year-on-year, according to data published by Chinese research firm Zero2IPO on Wednesday.