China has been a force to be reckoned with in the global startup ecosystem. Beijing is already creeping up on the most famous of all Silicon Valley cities, San Francisco, in the ranking of which places are home to most unicorn companies (startups valued at $1 billion or more).
Shanghai meanwhile is trying to catch up to the major startup location on the U.S.’s opposite coast, New York. The only city in the top 10 that is neither Chinese or U.S.-American is London in rank 5.
Both of the highest-valued startups in the world currently hail from China, highlighting the growing importance of the country in the sector. When counting unicorns by country however, the U.S. is still a way ahead of China with 228 unicorns in the country in June 2020 according to CB Insights, compared with 122 in China. San Francisco’s 64 unicorns, among them Stripe, Airbnb and DoorDash, are complimented in California alone by 51 more in the wider Bay Area and 21 more in Southern California.
