Over the past three years, the AI sector has produced more unicorns, companies valued at over one billion dollars, than any other industry, and that trend has continued into 2025.
Of the 50 new companies that joined this prestigious list, 28 operate in the AI space. But beyond growing in number, these companies have also secured massive funding rounds, with some reaching record-high valuations.
According to data presented by Stocklytics.com, 40% of the world’s 10 most valuable unicorns are AI companies.
The number of unicorns, or private startups valued at $1-billion or more, has surged over the past decade, reaching 1 276 as of this month, with a combined value exceeding $4,4-trillion.
Although achieving unicorn status has become more difficult despite massive venture capital (VC) inflows, the AI sector continues to defy this trend, producing more unicorns than any other industry. Since the start of the year, 50 new companies have joined the unicorn club, and 28 of them operate in the AI space.
But it’s not just their growing numbers, AI unicorns have also skyrocketed in value, now dominating the upper ranks of the world’s most valuable startups.
According to Stocklytics’ analysis of CB Insights data, four of the ten highest-valued unicorns are AI companies, led by OpenAI. The ChatGPT creator raised a massive $40-billion in March 2025 in a round led by SoftBank, bringing its total funding to $64,1-billion and pushing its valuation to $300-billion, making it the second most valuable private company globally, just behind SpaceX, valued at $350-billion.
Databricks, the second most valuable AI company, holds sixth place on the global unicorn list with a $62-billion valuation. Anthropic and xAI follow in seventh and eighth positions, valued at $61,5-billion and $50-billion, respectively. Four additional AI unicorns have also reached impressive valuations outside the top 10. Safe Superintelligence ranks 12th at $30-billion, Scale ranks 26th at $13,8-billion, while Celonis (28th) and Grammarly (30th) are each valued at $13-billion.
Together, these eight AI companies have reached a staggering $543,3-billion in combined valuation and have raised $147,5-billion in total funding so far.
With 28 new AI startups joining the unicorn club so far this year, their total number has reached 273. This represents an 11% increase from last year, when their number stood at 245, and nearly a fourfold increase since 2020, when their number was just 78.
The CB Insights data also show that seven of the eight highest-valued AI companies are based in the US. The only exception is Celonis, a German company founded in Munich in 2011, although it maintains a strong presence in the US as well. This shows that the US continues leading the way in AI innovation and startup funding.