ChatGPT owner OpenAI, valued at $20 bn, one of the best performing unicorn: Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2023

ChatGPT-owner OpenAI emerged as one of the best performing unicorn in the world in the past year. The company's valuation surged to $20 billion as it took the 17th spot in on the list of 100 most valued unicorns in the world, according to Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2023.

"Unicorns are dramatically changing the way we live and spend our money. OpenAI’s ChatGPT has had perhaps the largest impact across the world of any unicorn, shooting up in value to $20 billion and hitting the milestone of 100 million users within just over two months, the fastest-growing consumer software application ever," Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said.

OpenAI is an AI research and development company that developed ChatGPT -- an AI chatbot -- which is trained to follow an instruction in a prompt manner and provide a detailed response.

The stunning capabilities of ChatGPT has triggered a massive interest and investment in AI.  

What's interesting to note is that artificial Intelligence is among the fastest-growing industries in terms of number of unicorns and it boasts about 105 unicorns at present.

With a $20 billion valuation, San Francisco-based OpenAI leads the industry followed by Grammarly at $13 billion and Talkdesk at $10 billion.

The Hurun Research Institute today released the Global Unicorn Index 2023, a ranking of the world’s start-ups founded in the 2000s, worth at least a billion dollars and not yet listed on a public exchange. The cut-off was 31 December 2022, with significant changes in valuation updated up to the date of release.

The world’s unicorns are disrupting financial services, business management solutions and healthcare. The total value of all known unicorns in the world is $4.3 trillion, more than the GDP of Germany, double that of unicorns pre-Covid. 79 per cent sell software and services, such as FinTech, SaaS, E-commerce and AI, while 21 per cent have a physical product, led by new energy, biotech, F&B and semiconductors.

Also Read: India has 3rd-highest number of unicorns, gazelles: Hurun’s Global Unicorn Index 2023