HURUN UK Unicorns Press Release 200803
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HURUN UK UNICORN INDEX 2020 HURUN RESEARCH FINDS 24 UNICORNS IN UK, UP 11 ON LAST YEAR UK’S TOP 3 UNICORNS: DIGITAL BANK REVOLUT, WORTH US$6BN, E-COMMERCE PLATFORM THE HUT GROUP, WORTH US$5BN, AND FOOD DELIVERY APP DELIVEROO, WORTH US$4BN. UK 3RD IN WORLD FOR UNICORNS, AFTER USA AND CHINA, AND AHEAD OF INDIA. UK MAKES UP 40% OF EUROPE’S UNICORNS. “THE UK HAS MORE UNICORNS THAN GERMANY, FRANCE, SWEDEN, SPAIN, ITALY, RUSSIA, POLAND AND HOLLAND COMBINED”, SAID RUPERT HOOGEWERF, HURUN CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF RESEARCHER. LONDON WITH 16 UNICORNS, ONLY NON-CHINA AND NON-USA CITY IN TOP 10 CITIES OF WORLD’S UNICORNS. BEIJING IS WORLD CAPITAL OF UNICORNS WITH 93, FOLLOWED BY SAN FRANCISCO WITH 68. BRISTOL AND CAMBRIDGE EACH HAVE 2. FINANCIAL SERVICES, HEALTHCARE AND LIFE SCIENCES MOST DISRUPTED BY UK UNICORNS FINTECH LED WITH 10 UNICORNS, FOLLOWED BY AI WITH 3 AND HEALTHTECH WITH 2 YOUNGEST UNICORNS BRISTOL-BASED GRAPHCORE AND LONDON-BASED RAPYD, BOTH FOUNDED IN 2016. AVERAGE AGE OF UK UNICORNS 8YRS 18 OF 24 UNICORNS CO-FOUNDED BY AT LEAST ONE NON-UK FOUNDER, LED BY USA, GERMANY, EASTERN EUROPE (RUSSIA, ESTONIA AND UKRAINE) AND ISRAEL, MOSTLY ARRIVING IN UK AFTER UNIVERSITY 3 FEMALE FOUNDERS OUT OF 61 FOUNDERS 3 UNICORNS OUTSIDE OF UK CO-FOUNDED BY UK ENTREPRENEURS: SACHA MICHAUD OF BARCELONA-BASED DELIVERY APP GLOVO, SAM LOWN, 38, OF MADRID-BASED RIDE SHARING APP CABIFY AND DOMINIC WILLIAMS OF SWISS BLOCKCHAIN-BASED CLOUD COMPUTING PLATFORM DFINITY 9 OF 24 UNICORNS FOUNDED BY INDIVIDUALS WHO HAD SUCCESSFULLY SOLD OUT OF PREVIOUS STARTUP COMPUTER SCIENCE AND BUSINESS STUDIES MOST COMMON DEGREES OF UK UNICORN FOUNDERS AVERAGE AGE OF UNICORN FOUNDERS 45YRS. AVERAGE AGE AT START UP 37YRS. CAMBRIDGE GRADUATES LED WITH 6 FOUNDERS, FOLLOWED BY OXFORD 4, NOTTINGHAM AND UCL WITH 2 EACH AVERAGE OF 2.5 CO-FOUNDERS PER UNICORN, 7 UNICORNS WITH SOLE FOUNDER 4 IN 10 FOUNDERS MET AT PREVIOUS JOB, 1 IN 8 MET AT UNIVERSITY DST GLOBAL, GENERAL CATALYST AND WOODFORD INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT MOST FREQUENT INVESTORS IN UK UNICORNS 75% SELL SOFTWARE AND SERVICES, 25% PHYSICAL PRODUCTS 55% ARE CONSUMER-FACING, 45% B2B 1 / 12 TOTAL VALUE OF UK UNICORNS US$55 BILLION (4 August 2020, Oxford, United Kingdom, Shanghai, China and Mumbai, India) The Hurun Research Institute today released the Hurun UK Unicorn Index 2020, a ranking of the UK’s unicorns, defined as founded in the 2000s, worth at least a billion dollars and not yet listed on a public exchange. This is the inaugural year of the list, released on the same day as the Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2020. Valuations are a snapshot of 31 March 2020. “We found 24 unicorns in the UK, 58 in Europe and 586 in the world,” said Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf. “The UK has more unicorns than Germany, France, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Russia, Poland and Holland. The UK’s pool of talent and global customers base were seen by unicorn founders as the UK’s biggest attractions, and one unicorn founder suggested the time zone played a role.” “The Hurun UK Unicorn Index 2020 is designed to highlight the UK’s most exciting and successful start- ups. The UK’s unicorns, based predominantly in London, as well as Bristol and Cambridge, are leading a new generation of disruptive technology and attracting the world’s top young talent. Deregulation of financial services post the 2008 financial crisis, as well new developments in healthcare, e-commerce, cyber security and e-vehicles have laid the ground for these unicorns to thrive.” So, who are the founders behind the UK’s unicorns? “Only 3 of the 61 are female. Half came from overseas, led by the US, Germany, Eastern Europe (Russia, Estonia and Ukraine) and Israel, mostly arriving in the UK after university. Computer science was the most popular degree, followed by business administration and economics. One in three met at a previous job, whilst one in nine were university friends. Founders of 9 of the 24 unicorns had successfully exited from a business before starting their unicorn. The average age of unicorn founders today is 45, with the average age at founding of the unicorn eight years ago 37 years.” “The UK dominating Europe’s unicorns is significant because these unicorns create an ecosystem of talent and investors.” “UK entrepreneurs co-founded at least three more unicorns in the world, led by Dominic Williams of Swiss blockchain-based cloud computing platform Dfinity worth US$2bn, Sacha Michaud of Barcelona-based delivery app Glovo worth US$1bn and Sam Lown, 38, of Madrid-based ride-sharing app Cabify, worth US$1bn. Curiously, two of the three unicorns co-founded by Brits abroad are based in Spain.” “The UK has five former unicorns that recently went public or were sold at a trade sale. Online food delivery service Just Eat and proptech Zoopla both listed in 2014 on the London Stock Exchange, luxury online fashion retailer Farfetch listed in 2018 on the NYSE and peer to peer lending marketplace Funding Circle in 2018 on the London Stock Exchange, whilst Edinburgh-based Skyscanner was sold in 2016 to Chinese travel giant Ctrip.” “Hurun has set out to find every unicorn on the planet, ranking countries and cities by unicorn head office location. I hope this will help countries and cities to standardize the number of unicorns they have.” For more information on the world’s unicorns, see Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2020, released on www.hurun.net and www.hurun.co.uk . Table: Hurun UK Unicorns 2020 Rank Company Valuati City Main Year Founders on Sector Founded US$bn 2 / 12 1 Revolut 6 London FinTech 2015 Nikolay Storonsky, Vlad Yatsenko 2 The Hut 5 Manches E- 2004 John Gallemore, Matthew Group ter commerce Moulding 3 Deliveroo 4 London On- 2012 Will Shu, Greg Orlowski Demand Delivery 4 Arrival 3.5 London E-Cars 2015 Denis Sverdlov 4 Greensill 3.5 London FinTech 2011 Lex Greensill, Jason Austin 4 TransferWis 3.5 London FinTech 2011 Kristo Kaarmann, Taavet e Hinrikus 7 OakNorth 3 London FinTech 2013 Joel Perlman, Rishi Khosla 8 Babylon 2 London Artificial 2013 Ali Parsa Health Intelligenc e 8 Checkout.co 2 London FinTech 2012 Guillaume Pousaz m 8 Darktrace 2 Cambrid Artificial 2013 Poppy Gustafsson, Jack ge Intelligenc Stockdale, Nicole Eagan, Dave e Palmer, Emily Orton 8 FNZ 2 London FinTech 2003 Adrian Durham 8 Graphcore 2 Bristol Artificial 2016 Nigel Toon, Simon Knowles Intelligenc e 8 Improbable 2 London Gaming 2012 Herman Narula, Rob Whitehead, Peter Lipka 8 Oxford 2 Oxford Biotech 2005 Gordon Sanghera, Hagan Nanopore Bayley Technologie s 15 BrewDog 1.5 Ellon Beer 2007 James Watt, Martin Dickie 16 CMR 1.2 Cambrid Health 2014 Luke Hares, Paul Roberts, Surgical ge Tech Keith Marshall, Mark Slack, Martin Frost 16 Monzo 1.2 London FinTech 2015 Tom Blomfield, Gary Dolman, Jason Bates, Paul Rippon, Jonas Huckestein 16 Rapyd 1.2 London FinTech 2016 Arik Shtilman 3 / 12 19 Atom Bank 1 Durham FinTech 2014 Anthony Thomson, Edward Twiddy, Dave McCarthy, Mark Mullen, Craig Iley, Paul Hanks 19 BenevolentA 1 London Artificial 2013 Ken Mulvany, Brent I Intelligenc Gutekunst, Ivan Griffin, Michael e Brennan 19 Ovo Energy 1 Bristol New 2009 Stephen Fitzpatrick Energy 19 Snyk 1 London SaaS 2015 Guy Podjarny, Danny Grander, Assaf Hefetz 19 SumUp 1 London FinTech 2011 Daniel Klein, Jan Deepen, Marc-Alexander Christ, Petter Made, Stefan Jeschonnek 19 XTX 1 London FinTech 2015 Alexander Gerko Markets Source: Hurun Research Institute Founded in 2015 by Russia-born Nikolay Storonsky, 35, and Ukraine-born Vlad Yatsenko, 37, both former bankers, London-based Revolut has grown in five years to become the UK’s largest unicorn, valued at US$6bn. Seeing traditional banks’ sluggishness on introducing digital banking services for younger customers, Storonsky and Yatsenko created an online banking app with 10 million users today. Revolut started out winning customers as crypto currencies took off, and is well-known for its edgy advertising campaigns. Manchester Airport-based The Hut Group, is the UK’s second largest unicorn with a US$5bn valuation today. Founders John Gallemore, 48, and Matthew Moulding, 51, both accountants who worked together at mobile communications firm The Caudwell Group, started out in 2004 by selling CDs online. Today The Hut Group has expanded to books, clothing, flowers, perfume and lingerie. Founded in London in 2012 by American childhood friends Will Shu, 41 and Greg Orlowski, Deliveroo is the third largest UK unicorn, valued today at US$4bn. Providing food deliveries, Deliveroo has seen a surge in demand since lockdown, although it is still not making profits. Orlowski left Deliveroo four years ago, to return to Chicago. London-based Arrival was founded in 2015 by Russian serial entrepreneur Denis Sverdlov, 42, and today has grown to become the UK’s fourth largest unicorn, valued at US$3.5bn. With 1000 employees located across the UK, US, Germany, Israel, Luxembourg and Russia, Arrival is developing solutions that support the goal of creating sustainable urban environments, starting with zero-emissions vehicles which match existing fossil fuel vehicles in price. These vehicles are made using Arrival's in-house assembly technology which utilises low-footprint microfactories that are quick to deploy regionally in areas of high demand, utilising local supply chains and paying local taxes. Arrival has released its electric van and bus products, with UPS ordering over 10,000 vehicles. Earlier this year car companies Hyundai and Kia invested US$100 million for a 3% stake, cementing Arrival’s unicorn status. Prior to Arrival, Sverdlov founded and sold for US$1.5bn telecoms company Yota, that pioneered the biggest 4G network in Russia.