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While nine companies joined The SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Unicorn Board in October 2023, the majority of the existing unicorn companies that raised additional funding last month did so through extension rounds that came with no increase in value, an analysis of data shows.

Of the new unicorns, two focus on cybersecurity, while a single company was in the generative AI category, a startup based in Beijing that is less than a year old.

Interestingly, zero companies joined from Silicon Valley.

Two unicorn companies — , a trucking company, and health care claims management provider — shuttered amid the current market funding pullback, while many companies on the board have values that would no longer hold in this funding environment.

Defense tech , which joined the unicorn board in 2021, was one of the few existing unicorn companies to raise funding at an increased value last month, going from its 2022 valuation of $2.3 billion to $2.7 billion with its most recent raise.

Here are the companies that joined the Unicorn Board in October, by sector.

Cybersecurity

• Ohio-based , a security technology that helps companies protect machinery and devices across an enterprise, raised a from . The 22-year-old company was valued at $1.3 billion.
• , a New York-based smartphone identity authentication platform, raised a led by strategic investors and . The funding valued the 15-year-old company at $1 billion.

Transportation

• Los Angeles-based , a computer vision company for automated parking, raised $1.1 billion and $650 million in debt to take , a parking management services company, private for $1.5 billion. The funding to the 6-year-old company was led by growth investors and .

Aerospace

• Beijing-based aerospace company at a value of $2.1 billion. The funding was led by , a state-owned group. In 2023, the 8-year-old company successfully launched a satellite similar to , a division of , for Chinese communications.

HR

• is the latest unicorn company to hail from Sydney, Australia, from the continent. The cloud-based HR technology company raised a led by . The 9-year-old company was valued at $1.3 billion.

Fintech

• Car financing startup , based in Boston, led by insurance holding company . The 8-year-old company was valued at $1.1 billion.

Cleantech

• Massachusetts-based , manufactures electrolyzers to produce green hydrogen energy. It raised a funding led by ’ , and iron-ore producer . The 3-year-old company was valued at $1 billion, and is the first electric hydrogen company to become a unicorn.

AI

• Beijing-based raised a . The 6-month-old company was valued at $1 billion. The funding was led by leading technology giants in China , and .

Health care

• Mental health care platform provides access to a network of therapists and psychiatrists. The 5-year-old company raised a led by that valued the New York-based startup at $1 billion. Prior investors , and participated in the funding.

Of this list, three companies were founded in the last five years: Headway, Electric Hydrogen and Baichuan Intelligence.

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Methodology

The SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Unicorn Board is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ data. New companies are as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations — such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options — as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to .

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

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