Singapore shares fourth spot among best countries for unicorn startups

SINGAPORE is among the top countries in the world for unicorn startups, with six businesses valued at over US$1 billion. It also took the Republic's unicorn businesses an average of six years and 11 months to reach a US$1 billion valuation.

Singapore is fourth in the global ranking compiled by UK price comparison website Money.co.uk. It shares the spot with the United States and Australia, with 378 and six unicorn companies respectively, and also with a six-year-11-month average for unicorn businesses to reach US$1 billion in valuation.

The top country for unicorn startups was China, which produced 155 unicorn companies that took an average of five years and 10 months to reach US$1 billion valuations. This was followed by Hong Kong with five unicorn companies and an average of six years and one month.

When it comes to producing the most unicorn businesses, the US took the top spot, followed by China and India (34 unicorn companies).

The top-performing sector when it comes to average years taken to reach US$1 billion valuation was auto and transportation - which produced 31 unicorn companies that took an average of four years and five months.

Fintech produced the most unicorns at 131 companies, followed by e-commerce and direct-to-consumer companies, which produced 82 companies.

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Money.co.uk sourced its list of unicorn companies from cbinsights.com. These were any privately owned companies valued at over US$1 billion. Any country with fewer than five startups was excluded from the study.