On January 19th, the 2020 Guangzhou Unicorn Innovative Company List was released at the Shanghai Stock Exchange South Centre in Guangzhou.

Xia Jian, deputy director general of Guangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, delivers a speech at the release ceremony. (Photo provided to Newsgd.com)

Eleven Guangzhou-based companies including ZJ Tech have been included on the 2020 Guangzhou Unicorn Innovative Company List, four of which are newcomers to the list.

Two other lists of 58 “future unicorn firms” including GOWIN Semiconductor Corp. and 27 high-end, precision and sophisticated firms including DMAI were also released at the same time.

With the aim of promoting the innovation business in Guangzhou, the list mainly covers strategic emerging industries such as big data, cloud computing, information technology (IT), Internet of Things, biological medicine, artificial intelligence (AI), intelligent hardware, new energy, new material and advanced manufacturing.

Guangzhou's unicorn innovative companies have seen a rapid average growth rate in revenue over the past three years, and four unicorn firms, 23 future unicorn firms as well as 14 high-end, precision and sophisticated firms have enjoyed an average growth rate of over 100%.

A total of 14 unicorn companies have spent more than 100% of their revenue into research and development over the past three years. The average number of IP rights that a unicorn firm has is 242, future unicorn firm is 82, and high-end, precision with sophisticated firms having 119.

Eight of the 13 companies on the 2019 Guangzhou Unicorn Innovative Company List have been listed in China and abroad, the most among all the lists since 2017.

The unicorn firms refer to those privately held startup companies valued at over one billion U.S. dollars, not yet listed and founded within the past 10 years, while the future unicorn firms are those valued between 100 million and one billion U.S. dollars each. Unicorn company feature explosive growth, rare in number, and touted by investors. The number of unicorn firms is seen to represent the innovation level and entrepreneurship environment of a city.

The event was guided by the Guangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, and co-hosted by the Guangzhou Association for Innovation and Technology and SFC’s subsidiary Fast Company.

Author | Monica

Editor | Jerry