Unicorn Watch: six new US unicorns and a Chinese 'decacorn' this July

Unicorns, startups whose valuations have exceeded $1bn, are no longer the rare breed that earned them their namesake. According to analytics firm CB Insights, as of January 2019 there were more than 300 unicorns in the world, and their proliferation has led to the business community inventing new honorifics. 

There’s the decacorn, valued at more than $10bn, and the hectocorn, with a market worth of more than $100bn. The hectoclub is probably more representative of the way unicorns were seen ten years ago, with only a few ultra-elite startups laying claim to membership, the first ever being the $150bn Chinese fintech startup Ant Financial (formerly Alipay). 

While six US startups made it to Unicorn status this month, only one company worldwide made it as far as decacorn status. Online real estate platform Beike Zhaofang offers brokerage and financial services for Chinese renters and homebuyers. The company achieved its $10bn valuation on the 18th of July. 

Here’s Business Chief’s breakdown of the six new US-based unicorns from the month, as reported by CB Insights. 

Hippo

Hippo offers intuitive and proactive home insurance by using data, like municipal building records, and technology, such as satellite imagery and smart home devices, to streamline the quoting and on-boarding experience, for such products as protection for possessions like appliances, consumer electronics and home offices.

Turo

Turo is a peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace for people to book cars from a community of local hosts across the US, Canada, the UK, and Germany. Guests can choose from a selection of nearby cars, while hosts earn extra money to offset the costs of car ownership.

Icertis

Icertis is a cloud-based enterprise contract management platform that enables companies to accelerate their business by increasing contract velocity, protect against risk by ensuring regulatory and policy compliance and optimize commercial relationships by maximizing revenue and reducing costs.

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• Read the latest issue of Business Chief USA here 

Argo AI

Argo AI is an artificial intelligence company that is developing machine-learning software for autonomous vehicles.

Sonder

Sonder enables travelers to book a mix of properties - apartments, houses, condos, villas and lofts - that don't have the hosts living on-site. Company representatives vet each property.

OneTrust

OneTrust, a software platform for privacy professionals, is designed to operationalize data privacy compliance and Privacy by Design. The web-based console helps automate privacy impact assessments and data mapping, identify privacy risks, and enforce risk management and control activities in an integrated and agile approach. The result is the ability to demonstrate accountability and compliance with EU's data protection requirements, and globally across privacy jurisdictions and frameworks.