The United States of America has always been a major business hub, both in terms of savvy innovators and creative entrepreneurs too.
It’s not just that American businesses are more successful than those from other parts of the world, because naturally, many aren’t.
Rather, it has a lot more to do with the sheer number of businesses and startups that are founded in the US, meaning that even if a great deal of them don’t even make it past their first six months, there are still more of them that have been relatively successful than most other parts of the world.
Indeed, this assertion is supported by the fact that the United States is home to more unicorn companies than any other nation in the world.
What is a Unicorn?
The term unicorn is used in the business world to describe a business that is valued at over $1 billion.
More than that, a unicorn must be privately owned and not listed on stock markets, meaning that it can’t just rake in oodles of funding from millions of (relatively) small shareholders.
Why is the USA Home to So Many Unicorns?
The country’s relative success in the world of multi-million (and billion) dollar businesses isn’t due to the allure of the “American Dream”, however, as some may like to think.
Rather, it’s got more to do with a combination of the large, diverse consumer market, links to other international markets and business regulations in the USA.
With regards to the latter, the US is generally known for its transparent business environment and its efficient and consistent regulatory landscape.
There are plenty of specific factors that make this true, but ultimately, these regulations make the country an attractive place to start a business for startups and older businesses alike as they aren’t overly restricted and it’s easy to get things done.
Indeed, US-registered businesses tend to be attractive to investors for the same reasons, as they’re more likely to realise the value of their investments because US national (and federal) laws are generally conducive to healthy investment environments.
How Does the USA Compare to Other Countries?
Not only does the United States have favourable business regulations that make it easy for entrepreneurs to start and run successful businesses, it has also proven that this method is an effective way to produce incredibly profitable companies.
The US has consistently nabbed the top spot on the international list of unicorns per country, beating the runners-up by enormous margins year in and year out.
In 2023, the United States was home to 653 of the world’s 1,361 unicorn companies, accounting for nearly half of all the unicorns in the world and adding up to an astounding $360 billion in total.
These figures aren’t necessarily a huge surprise when you look at major players contributing to them, including the likes of SpaceX, Stripe, Epic Games and more. However, the country’s relative success is pretty incredible when you know that China placed second with 169 unicorns – still an impressive number, but only about a quarter of that of the States.
With that in mind, let’s dive into the top 10 unicorns in the USA.
1. SpaceX: $210 Billion
Founded in California in 2002, SpaceX has achieved incredible success in a plethora of different industries, including aerospace, transportation, space travel and manufacturing.
With the bombastic personality of Elon Musk at the helm, SpaceX is estimated to have about 13,000 employees.
According to Statista, SpaceX has received $9.4 billion by means of several rounds of funding, and today, it is the largest space tech startup in the world. Indeed, in 2008, SpaceX became the first privately funded company to send a liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit.
Musk is well-known for his charismatic personality and ambitious scientific pursuits, and while many of them seem (literally) outlandish at the outset, Elon Musk and SpaceX have had an immense amount of research and entrepreneurial success as a result of these pursuits.
2. OpenAI: $86 Billion
With headquarters in San Francisco, OpenAI was founded in 2015. The company was co-founded by a fairly large group of entrepreneurs, the most significant among OpenAI’s cofounders being Elon Musk, Greg Brockman and Sam Altman. Altman has been at the helm of the operation as CEO since 2019.
Tracxn reported in July of 2024 that OpenAI has received $11.3 billion over seven rounds of funding, and today, it’s valued at $86 billion.
Operating in the exciting and ever-evolving AI industry, the company is constantly improving its own technology and launching new features, making ambitious moves to compete with some of the largest multinational corporations, including Google.
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3. Stripe: $65 Billion
Irish sibling duo, John and Patrick Collison launched Stripe in California in 2010, starting off as a bootstrapped startup. Stripe is a multinational financial services and software company, powering both online and in-person payment solutions.
According to PrivCo, the company has raised a total of $8.74 billion, $6.5 billion of which was received at the conclusion of its Series 1 funding period in 2023 alone.
There are plenty of reasons Stripe has become a giant in the world of financial management services, but many assert that registering the company in the United States has played a significant role in its ability to establish itself, raise funding and function as efficiently as it has.
4. Data Bricks: $38 Billion
Founded in 2012, Databricks is an analytics, AI and global data company. It was started by a group based at UC Berkely by the team that previously started Apache Spark.
Much like SpaceX, Databricks was also founded by several different individuals, including Ali Ghodsi, Ion Stoica, Matei Zaharia, Patrick Wendell, Reynold Xin, Andy Konwinski and Arsalan Tavakoli-Shiraji.
According to Tracxn, Databricks has raised a total of $3.6 billion over 13 rounds, and today, the company is valued at $38 billion.
5. Epic Games: $31.5 Billion
Now worth $31.5 billion, Epic Games has received $8.13 billion in funding over a total of eight rounds, with funding sourced from more than 50 different investors.
Tim Sweeney initially founded Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, and after its first video game release later in the year, it became Epic MegaGames Inc. Potomac brought on Mark Rein in 1992, and he’s held the chair of the company’s vice president ever since.
Epic Games has received a total of $8.13 dollars of funding from 73 different investors over eight rounds, and today, the gaming development company is worth a staggering $31.5 billion.
6. Fanatics: $31 Billion
Founded in 1995 by Jason Watkins, Michael Rubin, Alan Trager, Josh Luber and Mitch Trager, Fanatics is a global digital sports platform. Michael Rubin, one of the original co-founders, is still the company’s CEO to this day.
Fanatics was founded in Florida and has achieved nine different acquisitions over the years. It’s received a total $5 billion in funding over 10 rounds, and today, it’s worth $31 billion.
7. xAI: $24 Billion
Founded by Elon Musk as recently as 2023, xAI is already worth an incredible $24 billion, having accrued $6.14 billion in just three rounds.
xAI operates in the advanced world of artificial intelligence, aiming to use the technology to accelerate human scientific discovery.
With its headquarters in the San Francisco Bay area, xAI seems to be on the rise, having become one of the quickest startups in history to shoot to unicorn status.
8. Core Weave: $19 Billion
Launched in 2017, CoreWeave is a cloud startup that specialises in GPU-accelerated networks. Having started off as an Ethereum mining company called Atlantic Crypto, CoreWave has a partnership with Nvidia, touted as “the world’s fast AI supercomputer”.
CoreWeave has raised a total of $12 billion in funding, and today, it’s valued at $19 billion. The company is headquartered in California and its founders are Michael Intrator, Brannin McBee nd Brian Venturo.
9. Miro: $17.5 Billion
Registered in Delaware, Miro was founded by Russian entrepreneurs, Andrey Khusid and Oleg Shardin in 2011.
Miro gained success as a result of their development of a digital workspace platform that allows different people to collaborate digitally in intuitive and innovative ways.
Worth $17.5 billion dollars today, Miro has raised $475 million in funding, a relatively small number compared to companies of similar valuations.
10. GoPuff: $15 Billion
GoPuff is another US top 10 unicorn founded by Russian entrepreneurs but registered in the States. The company was launched in 2013 Rafael Ilishayev and Yakir Gola and is headquartered in Pennsylvania.
GoPuff is a consumer goods and food delivery company operating in more than 650 different US cities and is currently valued at $15 billion.
Having received a total of $3.4 billion of investor funding over 11 rounds.
