Automated payable system Tipalti hit a valuation of more than $2bn last month, bringing total funding raised to date to around $280m.
Millions of startups spring up each year, but only a handful ever make a success of it, which is why a private billion-dollar startup is so rare, also known as a unicorn.
As 2020 draws to a close, Tipalti has taken a look at some of the other businesses that have joined this elite club in the last year.
The analysis revealed that 76 new companies have joined the exclusive unicorn club in 2020 – that’s 60% down from last year, with none of those 76 quite reaching ‘decacorn’ status yet (that’s a privately owned startup with a valuation of over $10m).
The top ten most valuable companies which have reached unicorn status in 2020:
| Rank | Company | Valuation ($B) | Date Joined | Country | Industry |
| 1 | National Stock Exchange of India | $6.50 | July | India | Fintech |
| 2 | Arrival | $3.92 | January | United Kingdom | Auto & transportation |
| 3 | GoPuff | $3.90 | October | United States | E-commerce & direct-to-consumer |
| 4 | HyalRoute | $3.50 | May | Singapore | Mobile & telecommunications |
| 5 | MessageBird | $3 | October | Netherlands | Mobile & telecommunications |
| 6 | Waterdrop | $2.88 | August | China | Fintech |
| 7 | Snyk | $2.60 | January | United States | Cybersecurity |
| 8 | Cazoo | $2.50 | June | United Kingdom | E-commerce & direct-to-consumer |
| 9 | Skydance Media | $2.30 | February | United States | Other |
| 10 | Via Transportation | $2.25 | March | United States | Auto & transportation |
The most valuable of these companies which reached unicorn status this year is the National Stock Exchange of India, at a value of $6.5m, with other notable new unicorns including the learning marketplace Udemy, fitness clothing brand Gymshark, and of course, Tipalti.
Fintech (17%), e-commerce (14%), and internet software and services (12%) were the industries which saw the most unicorn companies this year.
The top 5 countries with the most unicorns:
| Rank | Country | Number of Unicorn Companies | Number of Unicorn Companies (%) |
| 1 | United States | 235 | 48% |
| 2 | China | 119 | 24.3% |
| 3 | India | 24 | 4.9% |
| 4 | United Kingdom | 23 | 4.7% |
| 5 | Germany | 12 | 2.4% |
Almost half (48%) of the world’s unicorn companies were formed in the US, with 235, including 50% of the world’s decacorns too.
The country with the second-highest amount of unicorns was China, with 119 (24.3%), including fashion brand SHEIN and ByteDance, the world’s only ‘hectocorn’ (valued at over $100bn).
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