HURUN GLOBAL GAZELLE INDEX 2022 Half-Year Report

IN SEARCH OF START-UPS FROM THE 2000S WITH A VALUATION OF US$500MN TO US$1BN, NOT YET LISTED ON A PUBLIC EXCHANGE AND MOST LIKELY TO ‘GO UNICORN’ WITHIN 3YRS.

HURUN RESEARCH FINDS 621 GAZELLES IN WORLD, UP 96 OR 18% IN SIX MONTHS ENDING 30 JUNE 2022

1 NEW GAZELLE A DAY FOUND IN FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 2022. 163 NEW GAZELLES FOUND, 61 GAZELLES LAST YEAR PROMOTED TO UNICORNS OR IPO, AND 6 WHICH DID NOT MAKE THE CUT.

USA RETAINED TOP SPOT WITH 238 GAZELLES, UP 18% OR 37 GAZELLES.

CHINA SECOND WITH 200, UP 17% FROM 171

BETWEEN THEM, USA AND CHINA HAVE 70% OF TOTAL GAZELLES IN WORLD.

INDIA THIRD WITH 44, UP 15, FOLLOWED BY UK 4^TH WITH 30, UP 4

WITH 68 GAZELLES SAN FRANCISCO RETAINED TOP SPOT FOR CITIES WITH MOST NUMBER OF GAZELLES, FOLLOWED BY SHANGHAI WITH 61 GAZELLES. BEIJING 3^RD WITH 43 GAZELLES, UP 4.

BAHRAIN, KENYA, KUWAIT and south africa HAD AT LEAST ONE gazelle for the first time.

columbia broke into top twenty with two new gazelles: fintech addi and e-commerce TUL, BOTH BASED in bogota.

HEALTHCARE (140) most disrupted SECTOR BY GAZELLES, followed by FINANCIAL SERVICES (111) AND BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS (103).

FINTECH LEADS WITH 96 GAZELLES IN 2022 HURUN INDEX, FOLLOWED BY BIOTECH WITH 83, SAAS WITH 62, HEALTHTECH 52 AND E-COMMERCE 45.

gazelles set up by serial entrepreneurs, such as ELON MUSK WITH BRAIN CHIP FIRM NEUROLINK; JOSHUA KUSHNER, FORMER US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SON-IN-LAW JARED’S BROTHER, WITH REAL ESTATE MARKETPLACE CADRE; IN CHINA, Wei jianjun OF GREAT WALL MOTORING WITH NEW EV FTXT and nan cunhui OF CHINT WITH SOLAR ENERGY PROVIDER ZTAN.

6 gazelles DOING genetic sequEncing: 4 based in china and 1 IN EACH OF usA and france.

SEQUOIA WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GAZELLE INVESTOR, INVESTING INTO ONE IN SIX OF WORLD’S GAZELLES, FOLLOWED BY CICC, SOFTBANK, MATRIX PARTNERS, QIMING VENTURE AND GGV CAPITAL.

AVERAGE AGE OF HURUN GAZELLES 7 YRS. 64 OR 10% FOUNDED IN LAST 3 YEARS, UP 20. 5 gazelles founded in last year.

74% sell SOFTWARE AND SERVICES and 26% sell physical products.

42% OF THE GAZELLES are consumer-facing, 58% B2B.

(25 August 2022, Shanghai, China and Mumbai, India) The Hurun Research Institute today released the Hurun Global Gazelle Index 2022 Half-Year Report, a list of the world’s start-ups founded in the 2000s, worth over US$500mn, not yet listed on a public exchange and most likely to ‘go unicorn’, i.e. hit a valuation of US$1bn, within three years.  The cut-off date used was 30 June 2022. Hurun Research has been tracking Unicorns since 2017 and Gazelles since 2018. This is the second edition of the Hurun Global Gazelle Index.

This report includes the Most Successful Gazelle Investors in the World 2022 Half-Year Report, a ranking of the 50 most successful Gazelle investors, and the Most Successful Gazelle Investors in China 2022 Half-Year Report, based on the number of Gazelles they have invested in.

Hurun Research found 621 Gazelles in the world, based in 33 countries and 151 cities. On average, they were set up in 2015, ie 7 years ago, with the vast majority selling software and services and only 26% selling physical products. 58% are selling to businesses, whilst 42% are consumer-facing. Gazelles were disrupting healthcare, financial services and business management solutions.

Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said: “Gazelles are the startups most likely in the world to ‘go unicorn’, ie break through the US$1bn valuation mark. Gazelles are one of the most important unicorn pipelines. The more a city or country has, the more active their start-up ecosystem is, making it more likely they will produce more unicorns in the future. I hope this list of the world’s Gazelles can help young entrepreneurs find role models for their businesses.”

“There are now 621 ‘known’ Gazelles in the world, up a remarkable 18% from just six months ago, suggesting that we are currently in the midst of the world’s most exciting period of entrepreneurship ever, with founder teams, investors and governments coming together to promote start-ups. We managed to find one new Gazelle every day of the first half of the year. This is surprising, perhaps, when considering that the first six months of the year saw stock markets down US$13tn.”

“In terms of future unicorns, the world is now effectively split into the USA, China and ‘Rest of World’. The USA has 238 Gazelles, China 200 and the Rest of the World 183.”

“Curiously, both the US and China produce half their Gazelles in two cities: for the USA it is San Francisco and New York, whilst for China it is Shanghai and Beijing. For the rest of the world, it is London, Bengaluru, Singapore and Berlin.”

“Half of the world’s Gazelles come from fintech, biotech, SaaS, healthtech and e-commerce. These past six months fintech and enterprise services have grown fastest, attracting the world’s top young talent and smartest capital.”

“Few if any of the Hurun Gazelles are household names, but make no mistake, these are the start-ups most likely to become the next Douyin or SpaceX.”

“There is a clear trend towards serial entrepreneurs. The likes of Elon Musk has a Gazelle with Neurolink, three Unicorns with SpaceX, The Boring Company and OpenAI, as well as one of the Top 10 most valuable companies in the world, Tesla.”

“A successful start-up ecosystem requires rolemodels, both individuals, such as those from the Hurun Rich Lists, and companies, such as those from the Hurun 500 most valuable companies series. Attracting the best investors, who bring with them their experience as well as their cash, plays a critical role.  If a city or country can attract the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, companies and investors to set up shop there, that will have a roll-on effect. Entrepreneurship is infectious and cities with lots of rolemodels are likely to attract the brightest and best young entrepreneurs. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.”

“The Hurun Global Gazelle Index, like the Hurun Global Unicorn Index, is compiled using data from the world’s leading investors, the ‘entrepreneurs behind the entrepreneurs’, making this perhaps the most serious attempt to capture all of the world’s most successful start-ups into one list.”

“Hurun is committed to 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.”

Where are the World’s Gazelles based?

The world’s Gazelles are based in 33 countries around the world, spread around 151 cities.

The USA and China lead the index with 238 and 200, together accounting for 70% of the world’s known Gazelles. 200 Gazelles in China made the cut this year, 29 more than last year. Of these 200, 61 were new faces.

India stands third with 44 Gazelles, led by logistics start-up Shiprocket, followed by quick commerce start-up Zepto, e-commerce start-up Turtlemint, FinTech start-up Vivriti Capital and electric vehicle start-up Ather Energy.

By city, San Francisco is the world’s Gazelle capital with 68 in the index based there. Shanghai is a strong second ahead of Beijing and New York.

London is the Gazelle capital of Europe with 29 Gazelles, more than Berlin, Paris and Zurich combined.

Table 1: Top 20 countries and cities where the world’s Gazelles are based

China & USA

Half of the China based Gazelles are from BioTech, Enterprise Services and AI, whilst for USA it is SaaS, FinTech, BioTech and HealthTech.

Table 2: Gazelle by industry in China and USA

Both countries have Gazelles concentrated in two cities. Shanghai and Beijing are headquarters for 53% of China’s Gazelles, while San Francisco and New York have 45% of the USA’s Gazelles.

Shanghai has the most number of Gazelles in China, ahead of Beijing.

Table 3: Gazelle cities in China and USA

Asia is ahead of North America as the continent minting the most number of Gazelles.

Table 4: Continents where the world’s Gazelles are based

What industries do they come from?

Hurun Research has broken down the industries of these Gazelles into three.  First is the industry they are disrupting, second is their core industry and third is the detailed industry they are operating.

Industries Disrupted

Healthcare led with 140 Gazelles followed by Financial Services and Business Management Solutions.

Table 5: Industries most disrupted by Gazelles

What is the core business of these Gazelles?

FinTech is the core business for Gazelles, followed by BioTech, SaaS, HealthTech and E-commerce.

Table 6: Industries of the Gazelles

Gazelles recently ‘promoted’ or ‘demoted’?

Overall, 12% of last year’s list were promoted and 1% were demoted.

61 companies were promoted from last year’s Gazelle list, with 56 ‘going unicorn’ and 5 going IPO. 6 dropped out, no longer making the cut.

Table 7: Promoted off the Hurun Gazelles due to ‘Going Unicorn’

Table 8: Promoted off the Hurun Gazelles due to successful listing

Table 9: Drop-offs

Software and services versus physical products?

74% sell software and services, led by FinTech and followed by SaaS, E-commerce and Enterprise Services.

26% have a physical product as a core business offering, led by BioTech, HealthTech, Robotics and Semiconductors.

Which investors are the best at finding Gazelles?

Sequoia is the world’s most successful investment platform at finding and investing into Gazelles, investing into 94 of the world’s known Gazelles, followed by CICC, SoftBank, Matrix Partners and Qiming Venture.

SoftBank, Goldman Sachs, Temasek and Sequoia led the way in terms of number of countries the Gazelles came from, ie the most global investment houses.

Table 10: Most successful investors into Gazelles – Top 30

For the full Top 50 list, see Appendix

Table 11: Most successful investors into China Gazelles – Top 30

Methodology

The Hurun Global Gazelle Index 2022 Half-Year Report is compiled by the Hurun Research Institute with a 30 June 2022 cut-off. Hurun defines a Gazelle as a start-up founded in the 2000s, not yet listed on a public exchange and most likely in our opinion to reach a valuation of US$1bn – i.e. ‘go unicorn’ – in the next three years. Gazelles mostly have a valuation today of between US$500mn to US$1bn.

Many of the world’s top investment houses provided details of their portfolio, which the Hurun research team cross-checked against specialized investment databases, industry experts, media sources, as well as Gazelle co-founders.

Valuing Gazelles can be tricky. The very nature of these super-fast growing companies makes valuations hard to pin down, but to ensure consistency of the valuations, the Hurun research team used the most recent valuation based on a sizeable round. Where it becomes harder is when a Gazelle is underperforming or on its way down, since it is unlikely to have a new round of investment at a valuation lower than the previous round. In this case, Hurun uses industry comparatives to ascertain a new lower valuation.

Countries and cities are ranked according to the Gazelle head office.

Gazelles leave the Hurun Global Gazelles Index by being ‘promoted’ or ‘demoted’.  Promotions are by becoming a unicorn, listing on a public exchange (IPO) or being acquired. Demotions are when Hurun Research believes they will no longer become a unicorn within three years.

Hurun Research has been tracking Unicorns since 2017 and Gazelles since 2018.

Disclaimer. All the data collection and the research has been carried out by Hurun Research. This report is meant for information purposes only. Reasonable care and caution have been taken in preparing this report. The information contained in this report has been obtained from sources that are considered reliable. By accessing and/or using any part of the report, the user accepts this disclaimer and exclusion of liability which operates to the benefit of Hurun. Hurun does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information contained in the report and neither shall it be responsible for any errors or omissions in or for the results obtained from the use of such information. No third party whose information is referenced in this report under the credit to it, assumes any liability towards the user with respect to its information. Hurun shall not be liable for any decisions made by the user based on this report (including those of investment or divestiture) and the user takes full responsibility for their decisions made based on this report. Hurun shall not be liable to any user of this report (and expressly disclaim liability) for any loss, damage of any nature, including but not limited to direct, indirect, punitive, special, exemplary, consequential losses, loss of profit, lost business and economic loss regardless of the cause or form of action and regardless of whether or not any such loss could have been foreseen.

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 with a valuation of US$500mn to US$1bn, most likely to go unicorn within three years. 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.

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