Beijing tops list for corralling China's unicorns

Beijing ranks first in the country for its number of unicorn companies — 82 last year, followed by Shanghai with 44 and Hangzhou with 25, according to a report released by the Great Wall Enterprise Institute this week.

Unicorn companies are startups valued at $1 billion or more that have yet to go public.

Beijing's unicorns are estimated to be worth $480.77 billion, the report said.

Sixteen companies, including Chinese social fitness app Keep and education technology firm Huohua Siwei, made the list last year, which had six more than the year before.

In 2020, Beijing's unicorn companies generally operated across 26 main industries, including digital entertainment, internet education, artificial intelligence, new retail, healthcare, smart logistics, big data, tourism, sports and e-commerce.

Beijing has a solid foundation for internet development with rich applications for wired companies, especially in the digital entertainment and internet education industries.