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From WB21 to Slack, These Are the 10 Fastest Unicorns to Reach a $1 Billion Valuation These are the 10 companies which reached unicorn status faster than any others.

By Bhavik Sarkhedi

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In the startup world, cracking a $1 billion valuation is the most coveted status of success. Due to the rarity of this event, such companies have been dubbed "unicorns" and receive the highest level of admiration among their peers.

Of these hyper-elite, who did it faster than the rest? These are the 10 companies which reached unicorn status faster than any others.

1. WB21

Time to Unicorn: 2.08 years

Latest Valuation: $2.2 billion

Total funding to date: $23.73 million

Business activities: WB21 is a digital banking platform that launched just about one year ago. Over that span, WB21 saw crazy growth, reaching over 1 million users in September.

2. DidiChuxing

Time to Unicorn: 2.43 years

Latest Valuation: $35 billion

Total funding to date: $7.44 billion

Business activities: Didi is the "Uber of China" and recently partnered with Uber when the ride-hailing startup decided to withdraw from its costly battle with Didi over the Asian market.

3. Twitter

Time to Unicorn: 2.32 years

Latest Valuation: $13.34 billion

Total funding to date: Public

Business activities: As one of the top 10 largest websites and social networks in the world, Twitter has suffered a decrease in traction, valuation, and usership in recent years. Jack Dorsey, the founder and CEO, was brought back into the company to try to solve these problems.

4. Yello Mobile

Time to Unicorn: 2.28 years

Latest Valuation: $4 billion

Total funding to date: $202 million

Business activities: This conglomeration of over 70 startups which has raised $100 million from Formation 8, aims to acquire small startups in order to grow in market size.

5. Pinterest

Time to Unicorn: 2.46 years

Latest Valuation: $11 billion

Total funding to date: $1.3 billion

Business activities: Pinterest is the niche social media site with over 50 million active users in the United States alone. The network allows users to "pin" pictures and is predominantly used for fashion, design, travel pictures, and recipes.

6. Calient Technologies

Time to Unicorn: 2.02 years

Latest Valuation: $247 million

Total funding to date: $428 million

Business activities: Calient produces hardware for data centers. They saw exponential growth in the late 1990's reaching unicorn status, but in the following decade lost about 75% of their valuation.

7. Xiaomi

Time to Unicorn: 1.71 years

Latest Valuation: $45 billion

Total funding to date: $1.4 billion

Business activities: Xiaomi is a Chinese consumer technology company producing a majority of the Chinese smartphone market. They are sometimes referred to as the Apple of China due to the mass appeal and sleek design.

8. Akami Technologies

Time to Unicorn: 1.58 years

Latest Valuation: $11.28 billion

Total funding to date: Public

Business activities: Akami Technologies went public in 1999 and reportedly manages 30% of internet connections, which equates to around 2 trillion daily connections.

9. Groupon

Time to Unicorn: 1.46 years

Latest Valuation: $2.19 billion

Total funding to date: Public

Business activities: Groupon is a social platform for ecommerce, touting over 45 million active users and reported revenue over $3 billion annually.

10. Slack

Time to Unicorn: 1.25 years

Latest Valuation: $3.8 billion

Total funding to date: $540 million

Business activities: Slack is a B2B communication platform. The software allows companies to divide group messages into pertinent clusters and includes features to keep organizations talking effectively.

Bhavik Sarkhedi

Author of The Weak Point Dealer

Being bibliophilic in nature and engaged in personal diary writing since I was 9, the enthusiasm I have for writing can be expressed clearly when I write about the intersection of Technology,  Startup, Entrepreneurship and Juggle themBohemian by nature, Rapper by Passion, Story-Teller by Soul, and a Wanderlust, he wants to explore the intersection of philosophy and psychology. He is smartly dumb, genius moron, dynamically stubborn and occasionally an engineer. Die hard fan of TV seasons and  fictional characters- Sheldon Cooper, Chandler Bing, Charlie Harper, Daenerys Targaryen, Barney Stinson, Joey Tribianni and Tyrion Lannister.  Writes about Social Media, Entrepreneurship, Startups, Latest Tech Trends. The author of The Weak Point Dealer and 'Will You Walk A Mile?'

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