Top 10: Decacorns

Describing privately held startups valued at over US$10bn, decacorns represent a small but significant segment of the global startup ecosystem. These companies have typically raised multiple rounds of venture capital, often totalling billions of dollars., with high valuations based on factors such as rapid revenue growth, market dominance potential and proprietary technology.

The technology sector has produced the majority of decacorns, reflecting the industry's capacity for scalability and disruption, and spanning various subsectors, including financial technology and artificial intelligence. Here, Technology Magazine highlights the Top 10 Decacorns in technology, ranked by their valuation.

10: Epic Games

Valuation: US$22.5bn
CEO: Tim Sweeney
HQ: Cary, North Carolina, United States

Epic Games, founded in 1991 by Tim Sweeney, has evolved from a small startup to a powerhouse in the gaming industry. Initially known for titles like Jazz Jackrabbit and Unreal, Epic gained widespread recognition with Gears of War in 2006. The company’s Unreal Engine, first released in 1998, has become an industry standard for game development. In 2017, Epic launched Fortnite, which exploded in popularity and pioneered the battle royale genre. The company has since expanded into digital distribution with the Epic Games Store as it looks to challenge Steam’s market dominance.

9: xAI

Valuation: US$$24bn
CEO: Elon Musk
HQ: San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States

xAI, founded in 2023 by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, is pushing the boundaries of AI research, with a mission that centres on developing safe and beneficial AI systems. With a team of accomplished researchers from institutions like DeepMind and Google Brain, xAI is tackling complex challenges in machine learning, including interpretability and alignment. Their first public model, Grok, was released in late 2023 and quickly gained attention for its unique approach to real-time information processing. Despite being a newcomer, xAI has already made waves in the AI community with its ambitious goals and unconventional methodologies.

8: Chime

Valuation: US$25bn
CEO: Chris Britt
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States

Chime, a San Francisco-based fintech startup, has disrupted traditional banking since its 2013 launch. Co-founders Chris Britt and Ryan King envisioned a fee-free digital bank to help Americans build financial health. By 2021, Chime had amassed over 12 million users, drawn to its innovative features like early paycheck access and credit-building secured credit cards. Despite regulatory scrutiny over its use of the term ‘bank,’ Chime has secured over $2.3 billion in funding, reaching a US$25bn valuation in 2021.

7: Canva

Valuation: US$25.4bn
CEO: Melanie Perkins
HQ: Sydney, Australia

Launched in 2013 by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams, Canva revolutionised graphic design with its user-friendly platform. The Sydney-based startup quickly gained traction, reaching unicorn status by 2018. Canva's intuitive drag-and-drop interface and vast template library democratised design, enabling non-professionals to create polished visuals for social media, presentations and marketing materials. The company’s rapid growth led to several strategic acquisitions, including Pexels and Pixabay in 2019. With over 60 million monthly active users across 190 countries, Canva continues to innovate, recently expanding into video editing and website design tools.

6: Databricks

Valuation: US$43bn
CEO: Ali Ghodsi
HQ: San Francisco, California

Founded in 2013 by the creators of Apache Spark, Databricks has rapidly become a frontrunner in the data and AI landscape. The company’s Lakehouse Platform integrates data warehousing and AI capabilities, enabling organisations to process vast amounts of data and derive actionable insights. With offices in San Francisco, London and Amsterdam, Databricks serves over 5,000 customers globally, including 40% of the Fortune 500. The firm has raised $3.5 billion in funding and is today valued at $43 billion. Databricks continues to innovate, recently launching initiatives in AI and machine learning operations.

5: Revolut

Valuation: US$45bn
CEO: Nikolay Storonsky
HQ: London, United Kingdom

Revolut burst onto the fintech scene in 2015, shaking up traditional banking with its sleek digital platform. Founded by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko, the London-based startup quickly gained traction by offering fee-free currency exchange and seamless international transfers. As it expanded, Revolut introduced features like cryptocurrency trading and commission-free stock trading. The company has amassed over 25 million users across 38 countries, and in 2022 launched its own acquiring solution, positioning itself as a one-stop financial hub for both individuals and businesses. It recently cemented its position as Europe's most valuable private tech company with a US$45bn valuation after recent employee share sale

4: Stripe

Valuation: US$70bn
CEO: Patrick Collison
HQ: San Francisco, California and Dublin, Ireland

Founded in 2010 by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison, Stripe has revolutionised online payments. The San Francisco-based company’s API-first approach simplifies complex financial transactions for businesses of all sizes. Stripe’s suite of tools includes fraud prevention, subscription management and invoicing solutions. With a valuation exceeding $95 billion in 2021, it has attracted high-profile clients like Amazon and Shopify and more recently has expanded beyond payments, launching products like Atlas for startup incorporation and Climate for carbon removal.

3: OpenAI

Valuation: US$80bn
CEO: Sam Altman
HQ: San Francisco, California

OpenAI, founded in San Francisco in 2015, has quickly become a frontrunner in artificial intelligence research and development. Initially backed by tech leaders including Elon Musk and Sam Altman, the company has since evolved into a capped-profit structure. OpenAI's GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) series has revolutionised natural language processing, with GPT-3 and its successors setting new benchmarks in AI capabilities and enabling the launch of the company’s wildly popular ChatGPT tool in 2021. Today, OpenAI continues to push boundaries, recently venturing into multimodal AI systems and new search solutions.

2: SpaceX

Valuation: US$150bn
CEO: Elon Musk
HQ: Hawthorne, California, United States

SpaceX, founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, has revolutionised the aerospace industry with its innovative approach to spaceflight. The company’s Falcon 9 rocket, featuring a reusable first stage, has significantly reduced launch costs and transformed the economics of space access. In 2020, SpaceX made history by sending NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, marking the first crewed launch from US soil since 2011. The company’s Starlink project meanwhile aims to provide global broadband coverage through a constellation of satellites, with over 4,000 units already in orbit. SpaceX’s next-generation Starship vehicle, designed for Mars colonisation, has completed several high-altitude tests at its Boca Chica facility. Despite facing technical challenges and regulatory hurdles, SpaceX continues to push boundaries, securing contracts for lunar missions and maintaining a dominant position in the commercial launch market.

1: ByteDance

Valuation: US$225bn
CEO: Liang Rubo
HQ: Beijing, China

ByteDance, founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming, is a Chinese technology company headquartered in Beijing which is renowned for its development of content platforms powered by machine learning technology. 

ByteDance gained international recognition with the launch of TikTok, a short-form video platform that has become a global sensation, particularly among younger audiences. TikTok’s success is attributed to its sophisticated recommendation algorithms that personalise content feeds, keeping users engaged, with it amassing almost 5.7 billion global downloads since its release in 2016 as of August 2024.

ByteDance’s rapid growth and innovation have positioned it as one of the world's most valuable startups, with operations extending across Asia, the United States and other regions. The company’s portfolio also includes other apps such as Xigua Video and Helo, catering to various content consumption needs, and its popular news and information content platform Toutiao, which uses AI algorithms to tailor content to users’ preferences.

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