Topping the list of unicorn companies in Beijing was popular smartphone maker Xiaomi, which is valued at $46 billion. (Photo : Getty Images)
Beijing is now the home of the second-largest number of valuable tech startups in the world, China Daily reported.
The state capital has 40 unicorn companies--tech startups with an estimated value of over $1 billion each--coming second to the United States’ Silicon Valley.
These tech startups reportedly account for half of the aggregate valuation of such companies in the country, costing about $146.2 billion. Three of these unicorn companies are even worth over $10 billion each.
The findings were published in the Zhongguancun Unicorn List released by the Great Wall Enterprise Institute on Monday, Feb. 29.
Topping the list of unicorn companies in Beijing was popular smartphone maker Xiaomi, which is valued at $46 billion. Meituan-Dianping, valued at $18 billion, came second. Meanwhile, ride-hailing app Didi Kuaidi took the third place, valued at $16.5 billion.
"Beijing is China's Internet center and many Internet companies are based in the city," said Lin Renxiang, an analyst at iResearch Consulting Group, in an interview with China Daily.
The fact that Beijing is home to some of the country's best academic institutions might have also contributed to the city's success in the technology industry.
"Moreover, Beijing is home to China's top universities and research institutes, which cultivate technical talent for these unicorn companies," Lin added.
Lin predicts that more unicorn companies will pop up in the field, particularly in matters dealing with mobile health, big data and cloud computing.
Liu Hang, spokesman for the Zhongguancun Science Park's management committee, agrees, saying that technological breakthroughs in such fields are now more likely than ever.
So far, the tech startups included in the Zhongguancun Unicorn List were involved in big data, Internet finance, e-commerce, consumer electronics and transportation.
Since 2010, over 30 of these unicorn companies have seen dramatic growth. There are about 70 unicorn firms in the country since December, 40 of which are in Beijing, 15 in Shanghai, and three in Shenzhen.
In a worldwide scale, there are currently 175 unicorn companies, with 35 found in China, according to a list issued by Fortune magazine.
