Hurun China Cheetahs 2022 Half-Year Report

(23 August 2022, Shanghai) The Hurun Research Institute today released the Hurun China Cheetahs 2022 Half-Year Report, a list of startups set up after the year 2000 that are most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within five years. Cheetahs normally have a valuation of between US$300mn and US$500mn. This is the third edition of the list. The cut-off date used was 30 June 2022.

241 companies made the cut this year, 19 more than last year. 51 were new faces. 24 (10%) companies were promoted from last year’s Cheetahs list. 8 (4%) were demoted, no longer making the cut.

The companies on the Cheetahs list come from 30 cities, mainly in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Hangzhou. Mainly engaged in Biotech, Healthtech, Enterprise Services and E-commerce. 53% offer software or services and 47% have physical products. 71% are business-to-business and 29% are consumer-oriented.

Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said: “Despite Covid outbreaks across the country in the first half of this year, the total number of ‘Cheetah Companies' in China increased by 10% to 241. Local governments are making it very attractive for well-regarded founder teams to set up with them, in the knowledge that the next ‘Big One’ is almost certainly going to come from a startup today. 21 of the China Cheetahs from last year have been promoted: 3 directly to Unicorn status and 18 to Gazelle status, showing how fast these companies are growing.”

“Hurun Report is all about promoting entrepreneurship through its lists and research. Hurun’s ‘startup series’ has four main components. It begins with the Hurun U30s Entrepreneurs to Watch, a list of the top entrepreneurs under the age of 30. Next up are two ‘future unicorn’ lists: Hurun Cheetahs, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within 5 years and currently with a valuation of between US$300 million and US$500 million, and Hurun Gazelles, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within 3 years and currently with a valuation of between US$500 million and US$1 billion. The Hurun Global Unicorn Index is the pinnacle of the world’s start-ups.”

This is a brief English language summary of the full Chinese press release which can be found at www.hurun.net. For media inquiries please contact our public relations team whose contact details can be found at the end of this report.

Geographical distribution

This gives an idea of which cities have the best early-stage start-up ecosystems.

By Industry

This gives a good indication of which industries are most attractive to founders and early-stage investors.

China Cheetahs Best Investors

About Hurun Inc.

Promoting Entrepreneurship Through Lists and Research

Oxford, Shanghai, Mumbai, Sydney, Paris

Established in the UK in 1999, Hurun is a research, media and investments group, promoting entrepreneurship through its lists and research.  Widely regarded as an opinion-leader in the world of business, Hurun generated 6 billion views on the Hurun brand last year, mainly in China and India.

Best-known today for the Hurun Rich List series, telling the stories of the world’s successful entrepreneurs in China, India and the world, Hurun’s two other key series include the Hurun Start-up series and the Hurun 500 series, a ranking of the world’s most valuable companies.

The Hurun Start-up series begins with the Hurun U30s, an awards recognizing the most successful entrepreneurs under the age of thirty, and is today in seven countries. Next up are Hurun Cheetahs, Chinese and Indian start-ups with a valuation of between US$300mn to US$500mn, most likely to go unicorn with five years.  Hurun Global Gazelles recognize start-ups most likely to go unicorn within three years, with a valuation of US$500mn to US$1bn. The culmination of the start-up series is the Hurun Global Unicorn Index.

Other lists include the Hurun Philanthropy List, ranking the biggest philanthropists, the Hurun Art List, ranking the world’s most successful artists alive today, etc…

Hurun provides research reports co-branded with some of the world’s leading financial insitutions, real estate developers and regional governments.

Hurun hosted high-profile events in the last couple of years across China and India, as well as London, Paris, New York, LA, Sydney, Luxembourg, Istanbul, Dubai and Singapore.

For further information, see www.hurun.net.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Hurun Report

Porsha Pan

Tel: +86-21-50105808*601

Mobile: +86-139 1838 7446

Email: porsha.pan@hurun.net

Grace Liu

Tel: +86-21-50105808

Mobile: +86 136 7195 4611

Email: grace.liu@hurun.net