Hurun Gazelles List reveals rising trend of Chinese Gazelles

By Chen Tianhao

(ECNS) -- The Hurun Research Institute on Wednesday in Beijing released the Hurun Future Unicorns – Global Gazelles Index 2024, a list of the world’s start-ups founded in the 2000s but not yet listed on a public exchange and most likely to ”go unicorn”,(meaning hitting a valuation of US$1bln) within three years.

BioTech, AI and HealthTech companies lead Hurun Gazelle list

According to the List, Hurun Research found 803 Gazelles worldwide based in 38 countries and 204 cities, up 17% from 688 in 2023. 91 firms (13%) were "promoted" from last year’s index, whilst 95 (14%) were "demoted", no longer making the cut. There were 302 new faces, led by BioTech with 77, AI with 29 and HealthTech with 26. In terms of origins, 163 were from the U.S., 61 from China and 17 from the U.K. .

Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher, noted that Hurun Gazelles represent the most exciting startups in the world that are most likely to “go unicorn” within three years. Their animal counterpart is famous for agility and incredible bursts of speed, reaching speeds of close to 100 km/h. In much the same way, Hurun Gazelles have to run fast, or – like their animal counterparts – they may get eaten and never make it to a Hurun Unicorn.

“The idea behind the Hurun Gazelles is to help them find more investors, strategic partners and service providers as well as encourage the founders to think bigger, grow faster and go further,” noted Hoogewerf, adding that over a quarter of Hurun Gazelles are already leveraging AI to transform sectors, with fintech, blockchain, and SaaS seeing the most disruption.

Specifically, BioTech and HealthTech represent the hottest pipeline for the next generation of unicorns, the Hurun Gazelles. Innovations in medical devices, BioTech, and digital health are transforming disease treatment, diagnostics, and patient care, with China and the U.S. leading this healthcare revolution, Hoogewerf explained.

Chinese Gazelles on the rise, changing global innovation patterns

According to the List, China has more Hurun Gazelles than the rest of the world combined except for the U.S. In the past five years, China has seen the number of Hurun Gazelles more than tripling from 70 to 258. BioTech and semiconductors stand out as the industries with the most number of future Chinese unicorns. By city, the “Big Two" are Shanghai and Beijing, followed by Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Suzhou.

Hurun Research has been tracking Unicorns since 2017, Future Unicorns Gazelles since 2019 and Future Unicorns Cheetahs since 2020. This is the fourth year Hurun Research has launched the Hurun Gazelles Index on a global level.