Hurun UK Unicorns and Future Unicorns 2024
Leading Research Institute Announces UK As Unicorn Hub of Europe
Hurun UK Unicorns and Future Unicorns Index 2024 reveals 137 of Britain’s billion-dollar startups and those likely to achieve Unicorn status within five years
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Report announces 137 UK Unicorns and Future Unicorns signalling a golden era of growth and investment in the British economy
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List includes 53 UK billion-dollar Unicorns, with a combined value of $172 billion
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UK Unicorns have tripled in value since 2020
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Digital money management service, Revolut, most valuable UK company on the list
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London is the Unicorn and Future Unicorn capital of Europe
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FinTech best represented sector across UK Unicorns and Future Unicorns
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UK ranks fourth globally for Unicorn startups, following the US, China, and India
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Blockchain company MSquared the youngest Unicorn in the new list
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Hurun Chairman: “The UK has firmly established itself as Europe’s centre for high-growth startups”
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Hurun Chairman: ’'London continues to set the benchmark for entrepreneurship in Europe”
[London: 13 February 2025]: Today, global research group, the Hurun Research Institute , has released Hurun UK Unicorns and Future Unicorns Index 2024, showcasing 137 outstanding startups competing on the world stage and driving the UK economy to new levels.
The report identifies 53 British Hurun Unicorns, in addition to 45 Hurun Gazelles and 39 Hurun Cheetahs. Hurun defines a Unicorn and Future Unicorn as startups from the 2000s, not yet listed and worth at least US$1bn (Hurun Unicorns), or most likely to go unicorn’ within three years (Hurun Gazelles) or five years (Hurun Cheetahs).
Hurun UK Unicorns Index Top 10
Source: Hurun Research 2024
The combined values of the British Unicorns identified by Hurun accumulate to $172 billion, tripling from $54bn in 2020, marking the UK out as an increasingly growing hotspot for innovation and wealth creation. The UK’s future Unicorns – Gazelles and Cheetahs - are today worth $46 billion.
London is home to the highest proportion of British Unicorns and Future Unicorns featured, with nearly 80% of the startups (108) from the capital, followed by Cambridge (6), and Oxford and Bristol (3 each).
London is the Unicorn Capital of Europe as the city with the most Unicorns and Future Unicorns on the continent and the 5th leading Unicorn city in the world, placing it above rivals like Paris and Berlin. The value of the London-based Unicorns featured in the Hurun Index is $160 billion, underpinning the city’s position as Europe’s business capital and a thriving hub of investment for startups.
The average age of the founders of the Hurun Unicorns, Hurun Gazelles and Hurun Cheetahs is 49 years old, four years older than the average age (45) of the founders featured on the Hurun Global Unicorns Index 2024.
Geographical Distribution in UK
Source: Hurun Institute
Key Industries of UK
Source: Hurun Research 2024
Where are the Hurun Startups based?
Source: Hurun Research Institute *Includes Hurun Unicorns, Hurun Gazelles and Hurun Cheetahs
Top Cities for Hurun Unicorns & Future Unicorns Gazelles and Cheetahs
London is the fifth best city in the world for Hurun Unicorns & Future Unicorns, after San Francisco, New York, Shanghai and Beijing.
Source: Hurun Research 2024
Hurun Global Unicorn Index TOP 10
Source: Hurun Research 2024
Methodology
The Hurun Unicorns Index and Future Unicorns Global Gazelles Index and Future Unicorns Global Cheetahs Index were compiled by the Hurun Research Institute.
Hurun Research defines a Unicorn as a start-up founded in the 2000s, not yet listed on a public exchange and worth US$1 billion. A Hurun Gazelle is most likely, in our opinion, to reach a valuation of US$1 billion – i.e. ‘go unicorn’ – in the next three years, whilst a Hurun Cheetah is expected to ‘go unicorn’ within five years.
Hurun Gazelles have an average valuation of US$700 million and are mostly growing at an annual rate of about 20%. Hurun Cheetahs have an average valuation of US$400 million, and are mostly growing at an average rate of 25%.
Many of the world’s top investment houses provided details of their portfolio, which Hurun Research cross-checked against specialised investment databases, industry experts, media sources, and Hurun Unicorns, Gazelles & Cheetahs co-founders.
Valuing these Hurun Unicorns and Future Unicorns can be tricky. The very nature of these super-fast-growing companies makes valuations hard to pin down. Still, to ensure consistency of the valuations, the Hurun research team used the most recent valuation based on a sizeable round. It becomes harder when a startup is underperforming or on its way down since it is unlikely to have a new round of investment at a valuation lower than the previous round. In this case, Hurun used industry comparatives to ascertain a new lower valuation.
Countries and cities are ranked according to the head office.
Startups leave the Hurun Unicorns & Future Unicorns either by being ‘promoted’ or ‘demoted’. Promotions are achieved when a Unicorn becomes a listed company or is acquired. For Gazelles and Cheetahs, it is when they are promoted to become a Unicorn, Gazelle (in the case of Cheetahs), listing on a public exchange (IPO), or being acquired. Demotions are when Hurun Research believes they will no longer become a unicorn within three years for Gazelles and five years for Cheetahs.
Hurun Research has been tracking Unicorns since 2017, Gazelles since 2019 and Cheetahs since 2020.
Hurun Future Unicorns Global Gazelles Index 2024
Most Likely to ‘Go Unicorn’ by 2027
Source: Hurun Institute
Hurun Future Unicorns – Global Cheetahs Index 2024 Most Likely to ‘Go Unicorn’ by 2029
Source: Hurun Institute
Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher, said:
“The UK is the best place in the world for Unicorns outside of the US, China and India, showcasing that Britain is a magnet for entrepreneurs from around the world, complimenting the extensive homegrown talent already present in the country.”
‘’Since the turn of the millennium, London has firmly established itself as Europe’s hub for high-growth startups, making up just under half of the EU’s Unicorns and Future Unicorns. This is testament to the city’s unique ability to attract talent, investment and innovation. London continues to set the benchmark for entrepreneurship in Europe, with the city already fostering a next generation of world-class companies able to thrive on the international stage”
“The UK performs exceptionally well compared with the EU for Hurun Unicorns, Hurun Gazelles and Hurun Cheetahs, with the UK’s 137 Unicorns and Future Unicorns accounting for 59% of the EU’s 232 Unicorns and Future Unicorns. Having proven its competitive entrepreneurial spirit on the global stage, the biggest challenge to the UK’s startup ecosystem is the pull of the US, which can write bigger cheques and offer a bigger market than the UK can.”
For the Hurun Cheetahs, just under half of the founders were born outside of the UK, mainly from Europe but also from India and the US, suggesting that the UK is a magnet for talent from across the world.
The Hurun UK Unicorns and Future Unicorns Index 2024 features well-known British Unicorns such as Brewdog, the craft beer brewery and pub chain valued at $1.2 billion and founded in 2007 by Martin Dickie and James Watt, who recently launched a TV show to rival Dragons Den, after the pair were rejected by the show in 2008.
Energy provider Octopus Energy is the most valuable UK Unicorn founded by someone born in the UK, set up in 2015 by Greg Jackson, James Eddison and Stuart Jackson, and valued at $7.8 billion. This year Octopus Energy overtook British Gas to become Britain’s largest household energy supplier and is growing in value.
The FinTech sector is the best represented part of the economy, accounting for 52 (38%) of the startups across the UK Unicorn, Gazelle and Cheetah lists, including the most high value company on the list, Revolut. The digital money management service was founded in 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko, surging to a value of $45 billion in 10 years and is now a top 10 most valuable Unicorn in the world.
Healthcare is the second largest pool of Unicorns, Gazelles and Cheetahs in the UK, with $3 billion Cambridge-based CMR Surgical leading the sector with its robotic surgery systems that are shaping the future of hospital surgery, thanks to its founders Luke Hares, Mark Slack and Martin Frost.
There is also a strong representation for the e-commerce sector, led by Gousto and its innovative recipe box delivery service, founded by James Carter and Timo Boldt.
Hoogewerf added: “I hope this report on the UK’s Unicorns and Future Unicorns can inspire individuals to drive value creation in new sectors and for the UK to recognise the importance of unicorns to its future economy.”
“Hurun is committed to promoting entrepreneurship and value creation through lists and research, and our first Hurun UK Unicorns and Future Unicorns Index offers examples for aspiring entrepreneurs to follow, with multiple startups founded in the UK surpassing the $1 billion marker in 10 years.”
Hurun Research found 3,184 Unicorns and Future Unicorns in the world, with the UK taking fourth spot accounting for 4.3% of the world's total, behind the US, China and India.
Data is drawn from the Hurun Global Unicorns Index 2024, the Hurun Future Unicorns Global Gazelles Index 2024 and the Hurun Global Cheetahs Index 2024. Valuations are as of April 2024.
For further information, please contact:
Harriet Shearer / Harry Anderson / Will Heron
hurun@thecommunicationgroup.co.uk
The Communication Group plc
020 7630 1411
For business cooperation, please contact:
Ada Shan, Hurun chief representative in the UK & Europe
07539018042
Philip Reeve, Event Director - UK & Europe
07756508683
About Hurun Inc.
Promoting Entrepreneurship Through Lists and Research
Oxford, Shanghai, Mumbai
Established in the United Kingdom in 1999, Hurun is a research and media group, promoting entrepreneurship through its lists and research. Widely regarded as an opinion-leader in the world of business, Hurun generated 8 billion views on the Hurun brand in 2023, mainly in China and India, and recently expanding to the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
Best-known for the Hurun Rich List series, telling the stories of the world’s successful entrepreneurs in China, India and the world, Hurun’s other key series focus on young businesses and entrepreneurs, through the Hurun Unicorns Index, two Hurun Future Unicorns indices, the Hurun Uth series and the Hurun Pioneers series.
Hurun has grown to become the world’s largest list compiler for start-ups, ranking over 3000 start-ups across the world through its annual Hurun Global Unicorns Index (startups with a valuation of US$1bn+), and two Hurun Future Unicorn Indexes: Gazelles, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within three years, and Cheetahs, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within five years.
The Hurun Pioneering Young Startups and Entrepreneurs series focuses on startups set up within the last ten years and founders aged 45 or under.
The Hurun Uth series includes the Under25s, Under30s, Under35s and Under40s awards, representing the cream of each generation of young entrepreneurs who have founded businesses with a social impact and worth US$1m, US$10m, US$50m and US$100m respectively.
Other lists include the Hurun 500 series, ranking the most valuable companies in the world, China and India, the Hurun Global High Schools List, ranking the world’s best independent high schools, the Hurun Philanthropy List, ranking the biggest philanthropists and the Hurun Art List, ranking the world’s most successful artists alive today.
Hurun provides research reports co-branded with some of the world’s leading financial institutions and regional governments.
Hurun hosts high-profile events across China and India, as well as London, Paris, New York, LA, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney, Luxembourg, Istanbul, Dubai and Singapore.