Want to Start a Billion-Dollar Business? Look to These Two Industries, Which Have the Most Unicorn Growth During a tough fundraising year overall last year, the value of cybersecurity and AI unicorns saw double-digit growth.
By Sherin Shibu
Key Takeaways
- 2023 was a tough fundraising year, with many unicorn startups seeing declines in funding.
- Cybersecurity and AI unicorns grew, though.
- Of all the new unicorns that came onto the scene in 2023, 44% focused on AI and machine learning.
Cybersecurity and artificial intelligence stood out last year as the best-performing industries for unicorns or billion-dollar startups.
The Morningstar PitchBook Global Unicorn Vertical Indexes estimated that the value of cybersecurity unicorns grew by 24.3% in 2023, while AI unicorns rose by 22.9%.
The growth in cybersecurity could be due to notable startups hitting startlingly high valuations, such as Wiz reaching $10 billion in valuation in February. The indexes determine valuation growth or decline by using a model based on comparable public companies and prices for private startups.
On the AI front, the rise of generative AI saw a corresponding interest in funding. OpenAI raised $10 billion from Microsoft, for example, and Anthropic received $4 billion from Amazon. Of all the new unicorns that came onto the scene last year, 44% focused on AI and machine learning.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Adam Selipsky speaks with Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei. Photo by Noah Berger/Getty Images for Amazon Web Services
Overall, 2023 was a tough fundraising year, and unicorns in other industries dropped in valuation. Agriculture technology, for example, was the worst-performing sector for unicorns, with indoor farming startup Bowery and crop protection company Indigo feeling the effects of the fundraising downturn.
In addition to AI and cybersecurity, industries such as health tech, e-commerce, and fintech also saw unicorn growth.
