Given that there is a global startup revolution, the billion-dollar valuation of startups has emerged as a key indicator of their success. GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, uses proprietary machine learning (ML) algorithms to accurately identify promising future unicorns (private and valued at US$1bn or more).

GlobalData’s Disruptor Intelligence Center published the first iteration of potential unicorns —List of Potential Unicorns—during the end of February 2021. Out of the more than 2,500 entities featured in the list, around 20 predicted unicorns turned up to be unicorns during March 2021.

The list, which currently comprises more than 3,000 potential unicorns as of early April 2021, identifies the most promising startups by analyzing the key indicators of previous unicorns.

Archi Dasgupta, Director of Disruptive Tech at GlobalData, comments: “It is often tricky for venture capital (VC) firms and enterprises to place their bets on potential unicorns due to their unrealistic valuations. The earlier they are spotted, the higher is the potential return on investment (ROI) for VC investors, corporate VC investors, private equity players, potential acquirers, and strategic partners.”

Some of the top funded startups from the recently turned unicorns list are Qingju, BlockFi, Atai Life Sciences, Axonius and Yunxuetang.

China’s Qingju, a spin-off of the taxi-hailing service provider Didi Chuxing, offers e-bike sharing.     Didi, which is the biggest ride-hailing platform in China, targets 100 million daily trips for the next three years. It seeks to diversify growth in the Chinese mobility market and sees e-bike sharing as one of its main growth drivers.

NY fintech BlockFi offers crypto-backed loans to retail and institutional investors. Users can access its mobile app to get low-cost loans secured by the value of their crypto portfolio, earn interest on their crypto holdings, as well as buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

Germany’s biotech Atai Life Sciences (ALS) develops psychedelic and non-psychedelic compounds for various mental health indications like depression, anxiety, and addiction. It runs on decentralized drug development business model where it owns 10 companies that are working on different compounds to treat mental health issues. ALS helps these companies to raise money, work with regulators, and conduct clinical trials in exchange for a majority stake in the drugs being developed.

Mr Dasgupta concludes: “The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the existing problems across various industries and necessitated the need to accelerate digital adoption. With an unprecedented pace of innovation activity and evolving digital ecosystems, 2021 will continue to witness a surge in the number of billion-dollar valuation startups compared to previous years. In addition to the US and the UK, developing countries like India and China are expected to witness a rapidly growing community of unicorns driven by accelerated digitization.”