Shanghai remains first choice for global cheetahs, Beijing ranks third

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area had 68 companies included in a global cheetah index, a list of the world's startups most likely to "go unicorn" within five years to hit a valuation of $1 billion, according to the Hurun Research Institute.

Based in 243 cities from 37 countries and regions, the research institute found 928 cheetahs worldwide in the Hurun Future Unicorns: Global Cheetahs Index 2024, which was released in Nansha district of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, on Wednesday.

On average, the cheetahs were set up in 2016, with 66 percent of them selling software and services, led by fintech, biotech and health tech, followed by enterprise services, artificial intelligence and SaaS.

The United States and China led with 359 and 304 cheetahs in the index, respectively, together making up 71 percent of the world's known cheetahs.

The companies mostly have a valuation of between $300 million to $500 million and are growing at an annual rate of about 20 percent.

The institute has so far identified over 3,000 unicorns, gazelles and cheetahs, making it the world's largest list maker in the world for startups.

"Despite a marked slowdown, there is a vibrant startup ecosystem bubbling away under the surface," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report.

China saw over 70 new cheetah companies in the past year, which are mainly in the fields of biotechnology, health technology, robotics, semiconductors and new energy, with 45 startups' valuation upgraded, of which nine were upgraded to "unicorns".

Shanghai, with 68 companies, remains the first choice for global cheetahs.

Other cities in China leading in the number of cheetah enterprises are Beijing with 56, ranking third globally, Shenzhen with 35, Hangzhou with 34 and Guangzhou with 26.

Nansha, in the heart of the Greater Bay Area and widely considered to have some of the best policies and business environment for the development of high-growth industries in China, has seven companies included in the index.

"The district provides a favorable environment for the development of high-growth industries, offering more support to emerging industries in areas such as technological research and development, industrial agglomeration, application scenarios and financial support," said Hoogewerf.

The idea behind the cheetah index is to help them find more investors, strategic partners and service providers as well as encourage the founders to think bigger, grow faster and go further, according to Hoogewerf.

"The cheetah is famous for being the fastest land animal, but can only run 400 meters at top speed, so if it does not catch its prey within that distance, then it will go hungry," he said. "In much the same way, cheetahs in the index are some of the fastest-growing start-ups in the world, but they have to 'catch their prey' and hit their targets within a finite period ..."

Hurun Research has been tracking unicorns since 2017 and future unicorns, or cheetahs, since 2020.It is the second year the institute has launched the index on a global level.

qiuquanlin@chinadaily.com.cn