The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Around 50 million startups are created globally each year, but very few are profitable.¹ So, with this in mind, which startups have been able to find the most success?
The team at Tipalti have reviewed the value of the world’s largest startups to reveal the most successful companies. The study also looked into the countries and industries with the most successful startups.
The 10 highest-valued startups:
Rank
Company
Industry
Country
Valuation ($Billion)
1
ByteDance
Media & Entertainment
China
225.0B
2
SpaceX
Industrial
United States
150.0B
3
SHEIN
Consumer & Retail
Singapore
66.0B
4
Stripe
Financial Services
United States
50.0B
5
Revolut
Financial Services
United Kingdom
33.0B
6
Epic Games
Media & Entertainment
United States
31.5B
7
Fanatics
Consumer & Retail
United States
31.0B
8
OpenAI
Enterprise Tech
United States
29.0B
9
Canva
Enterprise Tech
Australia
25.4B
10
Chime
Financial Services
United States
25.0B
The company behind the incredibly successful social media platform TikTok can be crowned the highest-valued startup on the list, worth a whopping $225 billion. ByteDance was founded way back in 2012 with the vision of using AI to generate hyper-relevant content for its users, the company now hosts 2.5 billion users across several different platforms.
Taking second place is the American spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX. Founded by billionaire Elon Musk, the company manufactures reusable rockets for spacecraft and operates Starlink, which provides internet access to over 60 countries thanks to a network of over 5,000 satellites.
With an estimated value of $66 billion, the world’s biggest fashion retailer, SHEIN, places third on the list. The company, which specializes in selling inexpensive clothing, was an early adopter of TikTok, using the platform to promote its products and making it especially popular with Gen Z to the extent that the SHEIN app topped the charts for downloads last year.
Further findings:
Singapore takes the top spot as the country with the most successful startups when it comes to their average value, at $5.5 billion. The country hosts 17 startups valued at over $1 billion, including SHEIN and the fiber optics company Hyal Route.
Media and entertainment is the most successful industry for startups financially, with an average startup valuation of $6.1 billion.
Using the top 10 most successful startup founders as a sample, 30 is the average age they started their business.
Looking at the founders of the most successful companies, the average startup founder is far more likely to be male. Men make up 90% of the list, and only one woman, Canva’s founder Melanie Perkins, places in the top 10.
