Global New Unicorn Counts In The First Half Of 2026 Have Already Surpassed 2025’s Totals

In the first half of 2026, a total of 195 new unicorns have joined The Crunchbase Unicorn Board, surpassing the 193 new unicorns that were added in all of 2025. This surge in new unicorns includes a diverse range of industries, such as robotics, AI, financial services, healthcare, biotech, AI infrastructure, AI deployment, devtools, defense, semiconductor, and aerospace.

Robotics and AI neolabs led the way in terms of new unicorn creations. The H1 2026 cohort has added approximately $440 billion in value to the board, which represents 5% of the current value of the board. These new unicorns have raised a combined $80 billion, accounting for 5% of the total funding raised by private unicorn-valued companies.

The most valuable new unicorn this year is DeepSeek, a China-based open-source model developer, valued at $50 billion in its first external financing. Other notable unicorn valuations include OpenAI Deployment Co. at $14 billion and crypto exchange OKX at $25 billion. Four companies were valued as decacorns in H1, with five more valued above $5 billion.

The U.S. leads with 110 companies, accounting for 56% of new unicorns in H1, followed by China with 38 companies. The U.K. had a significant increase with 13 companies joining, while North America accounts for 115 new unicorns, Asia with 50, Europe with 27, Latin America, Oceania, and Africa each count for one. Fast follow-on rounds have been common, with 19 of the H1 new unicorns raising additional funds within six months of their initial valuation, doubling their value to reach at least $2 billion or more.