The highest-valued startups in the world

According to the CB Insights unicorn list, Chinese AI company Bytedance is the highest-valued startup – currently private, up-and-coming company – in the world. The parent company of TikTok is valued at $140 billion. Bytedance also runs content platform Toutiao in China, which uses machine learning to tailor a newsfeed for each individual viewer out of traditional and new media sources.

The list of the top 8 highest-valued startups in the world has gotten more diverse recently after having consisted of mainly U.S and Chinese companies, some of which have since gone public. As of April 2022, the list featured one Swedish (Klarna), one British (Checkout.com) and one Australian (Canva) endeavor. A quick riser on the list has been Chinese apparel retailer Shein, now valued at $100 billion.

According to CB Insights, there were more than 1,000 unicorn startups (companies valued at $1 billion or more) in the world as of April 2022. Around 50 are decacorns, valued at $10 billion or more. Bytedance, Space X and Shein are the world’s hectocorns, valued at $100 billion or higher. (Statista)