Nine companies from Hubei Province were listed as global unicorns, according to the Global Unicorn Index 2024 released by Hurun Research Institute on April 9, 2024.

The Global Unicorn Index 2024 is a ranking of the world's start-ups founded after 2000 that are worth at least 1 billion US dollars and not yet listed on a public exchange.

This year, there are 340 Chinese companies on the list, including nine from Hubei and eight of which are based in Wuhan, one more than the previous year. The number ranks ninth nationwide.

The eight inductees from Wuhan are VOYAH, Black Sesame Technologies, Yaobangmang, Xingji Meizu, ExPace Technology Corporation, SiEngine Technology, ABclonal Technology and Ankon Medical Technologies. Another Hubei company is the Huangshi-based RT-HITECH.

Unicorn companies enjoy high growth potential and represent the direction of economic development to some extent. In November 2023, Wuhan issued a three-year action plan to boost the cultivation of unicorn companies. By 2025, the city will strive to cultivate more than 20 unicorn companies and over 30 potential unicorn companies in total. (en.hubei.gov.cn by Ruan Xinqi)