Unicorn Companies

This Project shows the analysis of private companies with a valuation over $1 billion as of March 2022, including each company's current valuation, funding, country of origin, industry, select investors, and how long before they become unicorns.

Data cleaning and transformation I introduced a date column encompassing details such as the specific date, year, month, and quarter. Subsequently, I incorporated a column dedicated to enumerating the number of investors associated with each company.

Valuation figures were classified into distinct ranges: low value (<30B), mid value (30B-60B), and high value range (>60B). Correspondingly, funding amounts were categorized into small scale funding (<1B), mid scale funding (1B-5B), and large scale funding (>5B) In addition, a new column was incorporated to showcase the duration it took for a company to achieve a valuation of 1B from its founding year. This information was utilized to calculate the "Number of Years to Reach Unicorn," as reflected in the respective column.

Questions asked.

1. Among unicorn companies, which ones exhibit the highest and lowest return on investment?
2. What is the typical duration for a company to achieve unicorn status?
3. How many companies have attained unicorn status over the years?
4. Investigate the variation in the number of investors across different industries among unicorn companies.
5. Categorize funding and valuation amounts into small, mid, and large scale for unicorn companies.
6. Analyze the distribution of funding and valuation categories across various industries within the unicorn landscape.
7. Examine the geographical distribution of unicorn companies, specifically across cities, countries, and continents. Identify which countries boast the highest number of unicorn companies.

Insights. Over a span of 16 years, a total of 1,074 companies achieved unicorn status, accumulating a staggering combined valuation of $3.7 trillion, supported by a substantial funding sum of $591.8 billion. Notably, the pinnacle of this trend occurred in 2021, witnessing the emergence of 520 unicorn companies boasting a cumulative valuation of $1.1 trillion and securing $197 billion in funding.

Remarkably, Zapier, Danamu, and Workhuman stand out with the highest Return on Investments (ROIs). Workhuman's journey to unicorn status spanned 21 years, marking it as the lengthiest path with a single investor. Meanwhile, Zapier and Danamu achieved their unicorn status with the backing of three investors each.

In contrast, Snapdeal, REEF Technology, and Transtech experienced negative ROIs, attaining the unicorn status in 6, 3, and 2 years, respectively. Notably, each of these companies engaged three investors, except for Hello Transtech, which had two.

A noteworthy trend is that 89% of unicorn companies secured funding at a small scale, while 11% received mid-scale funding.

The Fintech industry emerged as the leader in both funding and valuation, surpassing other sectors. Following closely were E-commerce and Internet industries, with the latter demonstrating a higher valuation than E-commerce. These three industries also attracted the highest number of investors.

Geographically, North America claimed the highest unicorn valuation and housed the majority of these companies, with San Francisco and New York emerging as the top cities in the continent.