March Unicorn Board Update: New Companies and Significant Developments
The Crunchbase Unicorn Board expanded significantly in March, with twelve new entries adding approximately $16 billion in aggregate value. In addition, existing unicorns experienced substantial up rounds, contributing around $200 billion. The month also saw a flurry of exits, marking a vibrant landscape for unicorn companies.
Marketplace Exits
March brought significant movements out of the Unicorn Board, as seven companies, collectively valued near $48 billion, transitioned through initial public offerings (IPOs) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
- CoreWeave (New Jersey): An AI data center service provider that went public at approximately $23 billion, matching its last private valuation.
- Mixuebingcheng (Henan, China): A beverage chain that completed its IPO with a valuation of $9.8 billion, significantly up from its previous estimation of over $3 billion.
Five unicorns were also acquired in March, with the most notable being Wiz, a cybersecurity firm, which was acquired by Google for a record $32 billion, the largest acquisition of a private company to date. Other significant acquisitions included:
- Moveworks, acquired by ServiceNow for $2.9 billion.
- Next Insurance, acquired by Ergo Group for $2.6 billion.
- Weights & Biases, purchased by CoreWeave for $1.8 billion prior to its IPO.
- Saxo Bank, an online trading platform, acquired by J. Safra Sarasin for $1.2 billion.
Evaluation Increases Through Up Rounds
March witnessed substantial valuation increases for existing unicorns. Notable advancements were seen with:
- OpenAI: Boosted to a remarkable $300 billion following a funding round led by SoftBank, up from $157 billion just six months prior.
- Anthropic: Jumped to $61.5 billion, a rise fueled by a funding round from Lightspeed Venture Partners that increased its value by $43 billion from January.
- Flock Safety: Valued at $7.2 billion, increasing from a previous valuation of $4 billion.
- Shield AI and Cognition: Both experienced valuation increases by $2.5 billion and $2 billion, respectively.
Newly Minted Unicorns
March added eleven new companies to the Unicorn Board, with nine hailing from the United States and one each from Hong Kong and Mexico. The financial services sector dominated this month, producing two new unicorns.
Among the eleven new unicorns, four companies secured substantial funding exceeding $500 million:
- Nerdio: Raised $625 million, providing IT management solutions for remote work.
- Fleetio: Valued at $1.5 billion after a $620 million funding round focused on fleet maintenance software.
- Celestial AI: Received $589 million and is now valued at $2.5 billion, specializing in optical interconnects for AI processors.
- Insilico Medicine: An AI drug developer valued at $1 billion after a $110 million funding round.
Sector Breakdown of New Unicorns
Financial Services
Plata: A digital bank from Mexico, raised $160 million in its Series A funding, attaining a valuation of $1.5 billion.
Assured Insurance Technologies: This Palo Alto-based insurtech company reached a valuation of $1 billion through growth-stage funding.
AI Infrastructure
Celestial AI: Company focuses on optical interconnect solutions for AI data centers, valued at $2.5 billion post-$250 million Series C funding.
GovTech
Peregrine Technologies: A data integration provider for governmental agencies raised $190 million, bringing its valuation to $2.5 billion.
Logistics
Fleetio: Valued at $1.5 billion following a $450 million Series D investment, coupled with an acquisition aimed at enhancing fleet management services.
Healthcare
Insilico Medicine: Specializes in AI-driven drug development, reaching a valuation of $1 billion with significant late-stage funding.
Methodology
The Crunchbase Unicorn Board consists of private companies whose post-money valuations exceed $1 billion. This report considers completed funding rounds and does not reflect internal valuations that could differ significantly. Values are reported in U.S. dollars based on the historical exchange rates at the time of each funding round, IPO, or acquisition.
