Cybersecurity Sector Leads For New Unicorns In October, With Zero From Silicon Valley

While nine companies joined The Crunchbase Unicorn Board in October 2023, the majority of the existing unicorn companies that raised additional funding last month did so through extension rounds that came with no increase in value, an analysis of Crunchbase data shows.

Of the new unicorns, two focus on cybersecurity, while a single company was in the generative AI category, a startup based in Beijing that is less than a year old.

Interestingly, zero companies joined from Silicon Valley.

Two unicorn companies — Convoy, a trucking company, and health care claims management provider Olive AI — shuttered amid the current market funding pullback, while many companies on the board have values that would no longer hold in this funding environment.

Defense tech Shield AI, which joined the unicorn board in 2021, was one of the few existing unicorn companies to raise funding at an increased value last month, going from its 2022 valuation of $2.3 billion to $2.7 billion with its most recent raise.

Here are the companies that joined the Unicorn Board in October, by sector.

Cybersecurity

• Ohio-based Keyfactor, a security technology that helps companies protect machinery and devices across an enterprise, raised a minority stake funding from Sixth Street. The 22-year-old company was valued at $1.3 billion.
• Prove, a New York-based smartphone identity authentication platform, raised a $40 million funding led by strategic investors Capital One Ventures and MassMutual Ventures. The funding valued the 15-year-old company at $1 billion.

Transportation

• Los Angeles-based Metropolis, a computer vision company for automated parking, raised $1.1 billion and $650 million in debt to take SP Plus, a parking management services company, private for $1.5 billion. The funding to the 6-year-old company was led by growth investors 3L Capital and Eldridge.

Aerospace

• Beijing-based aerospace company Tianbing Technology raised funding at a value of $2.1 billion. The funding was led by Citic Construction Investment, a state-owned group. In 2023, the 8-year-old company successfully launched a satellite similar to Starlink, a division of SpaceX, for Chinese communications.

HR

• Employment Hero is the latest unicorn company to hail from Sydney, Australia, joining 10 other current unicorns from the continent. The cloud-based HR technology company raised a $267 million Series F funding led by TCV. The 9-year-old company was valued at $1.3 billion.

Fintech

• Car financing startup Lendbuzz, based in Boston, raised $45 million in equity and $300 million in debt led by insurance holding company Group1001. The 8-year-old company was valued at $1.1 billion.

Cleantech

• Massachusetts-based Electric Hydrogen, manufactures electrolyzers to produce green hydrogen energy. It raised a $380 million Series C funding led by Bill Gates’ Energy Impact Partners, Fifth Wall and iron-ore producer Fortescue Metals. The 3-year-old company was valued at $1 billion, and is the first electric hydrogen company to become a unicorn.

AI

• Beijing-based Baichuan Intelligence raised a $300 million Series A. The 6-month-old company was valued at $1 billion. The funding was led by leading technology giants in China Alibaba Group, Tencent and Xiaomi.

Health care

• Mental health care platform Headway provides access to a network of therapists and psychiatrists. The 5-year-old company raised a $125 million Series C led by Spark Capital that valued the New York-based startup at $1 billion. Prior investors Accel, Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz participated in the funding.

Of this list, three companies were founded in the last five years: Headway, Electric Hydrogen and Baichuan Intelligence.

Related Crunchbase unicorn queries

• The Crunchbase Private Unicorn Company List (1,485)
• Unicorns in the U.S. (728)
• Unicorns in Asia (472)
• European unicorns (200)
• Current Australia-Based Unicorn Companies (11)
• Emerging unicorn leaderboard (382)
• Exited unicorns (439)

Methodology

The Crunchbase Unicorn Board is a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more and is based on Crunchbase data. New companies are added to the Unicorn Board as they reach the $1 billion valuation mark as part of a funding round.

The unicorn board does not reflect internal company valuations — such as those set via a 409a process for employee stock options — as these differ from, and are more likely to be lower than, a priced funding round. We also do not adjust valuations based on investor writedowns, which change quarterly, as different investors will not value the same company consistently within the same quarter.

Funding to unicorn companies includes all private financings to companies that are tagged as unicorns, as well as those that have since graduated to The Exited Unicorn Board.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Illustration: Dom Guzman