AI data companies dominate new unicorn list from BestBrokers

Companies built around AI data systems dominate entrants to the latest unicorn list compiled by broking comparison site BestBrokers, with Databricks and WEKA mentioned.

Unicorns are defined as privately owned companies valued at over $1 billion, and those in BestBrokers’ 2024 complete list are often valued at well over that mark.

OpenAI, the US company behind ChatGPT, recently closed a $6.6 billion funding round, nearly doubling its value from February 2024 to $157 billion. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched a tender offer in December 2024 that brought its valuation to $350 billion, overtaking Chinese tech giant and TikTok owner ByteDance as the most valuable startup in the world.

On new entrants to the unicorn list, BestBrokers said that out of 79 startups reaching the status in 2024, 36 of them, or nearly 46 percent, are AI companies. Among these is Musk’s AI startup, xAI, which he founded in 2023 to compete with OpenAI, a company he left after co-creating it. xAI is said to be worth around $50 billion after a funding round of $6 billion in December 2024.

The top ten AI unicorns with their estimated values are xAI ($50 billion), Perplexity AI ($9 billion), SandboxAQ ($5.6 billion), Safe Superintelligence ($5 billion), Sierra ($4.5 billion), Moonshot AI ($3.3 billion), Cyera ($3 billion), Poolside ($3 billion), Physical Intelligence ($2.8 billion), and Figure ($2.68 billion).

The total number of unicorns reached 1,258 in December 2024, and of the top ten, Data lakehouse supplier Databricks is ranked sixth with a $62 billion valuation. Ultra-fast file system software supplier WEKA is given a $1.6 billion valuation and is ranked 24th.

In January 2023, Blocks & Files reported there were 21 storage industry startups worth a billion dollars or more.

In BestBrokers’ list of 79 new entrants outside AI, there are six unicorns in cybersecurity (7.6 percent), ten in enterprise software (12.7 percent), and 16 in fintech and crypto (20.3 percent).

The US is home to well over half of all unicorns, with the figure standing at 683. Many were founded by immigrants or were started elsewhere but later relocated to the US. SpaceX, Databricks, and Stripe are examples.

China has 165 unicorns and India has 71. Across Europe, the UK has the largest number of unicorns, 54 in total, and Germany has 32. In addition, France has 28.