Data shows the best month for British businesses to attain unicorn status
To be considered a unicorn startup, a privately owned business needs to reach an investor valuation of $1bn or more.
Interested in unicorn enterprises, money.co.uk analysed data from CB Insights between January 2010 to September 2021 to establish which month is the most common for startup businesses to gain unicorn status.
Spotlight: United Kingdom
| Month | The number of startup businesses established as ‘unicorn’ in United Kingdom | The combined financial valuation of startup businesses established as ‘unicorn’ ($USD) in United Kingdom |
| January | 2 | $9.6bn |
| February | 2 | $6.48bn |
| March | 2 | $3.05bn |
| April | 3 | $35.24bn |
| May | 2 | $17.00bn |
| June | 3 | $4.35bn |
| July | 2 | $5.00bn |
| August | 3 | $8.45bn |
| September | 5 | $11.75bn |
| October | 2 | $6.61bn |
| November | 4 | $12.82bn |
| December | 3 | $22.62bn |
Money.co.uk found that November is the most popular month for startups to become unicorn in United Kingdom, with 4 businesses achieving this status in the month of November from 2010 to 2021. The accumulative valuation of these businesses is an astonishing $12.82bn.
In United Kingdom, the three industries which produced the most unicorn businesses: fintech (18), artificial intelligence (4) and other (3).
| The world’s best month for unicorn businesses | ||
| Month | Number of startup businesses established as ‘unicorn’ | Combined financial valuation ($USD) |
| January | 64 | $271.60bn |
| February | 43 | $138.23bn |
| March | 81 | $241.50bn |
| April | 88 | $360.08bn |
| May | 84 | $226.04bn |
| June | 88 | $208.51bn |
| July | 96 | $292.22bn |
| August | 67 | $156.46bn |
| September | 90 | $227.13bn |
| October | 54 | $178.80bn |
| November | 44 | $126.60bn |
| December | 48 | $319.88bn |
Money.co.uk found that July is the most popular month for startups to become a unicorn, with 96 businesses achieving this status in the month of June from 2010 to 2021. The accumulative valuation of these businesses is an astonishing $292.22bn.
Contrastingly, data from the last 11 years notes February is the month which has seen the least number of startup businesses attain unicorn status at 43.
Overall, from January 2010 to September 2021, 847 startups have received the prestige of becoming a unicorn business and the total collective valuation of the 847 unicorn businesses is a colossal $2,747.05tr.
