China boasts 100 tech unicorns and eight decacorns

July 04, 2017 (LBO) - China now boasts at least 100 tech companies worth over one billion dollars each, called unicorns, and eight companies valued at over 10 billion dollars each, called decacorns in the global tech industry.





They include Ali Baba’s Ant Financial, ride-sharing giant Didi Chuxing, smartphone-maker Xiaomi and Tencent Music. According to the China Money Network, 102 companies in the Chinese tech industry have a combined worth of 435 billion dollars.





The tech giants Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu each have 22, 13 and 10 unicorns under their belt respectively.

Combined, the companies invested in 66% of the unicorns in terms of valuation.

The trio are also referred to as BAT (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent). Tencent became Asia’s most valuable public company in September, with a valuation of 255 billion dollars, putting it among the top 10 companies in the world by market capitalization.





In a related trend, China is on track to become the world’s biggest filer of patents within two years, according to the World Economic Forum.

In 2016, the number of international patent filings lodged with the World Intellectual Property Organization rose 45% to 43,000 – more than any other country except Japan or the US, which China is set to overtake if current trends continue. The list of tech companies can be viewed here