The Unicorn Crucible: Engineering Hypergrowth

Unicorn startups are a new generation of companies that are addressing untouched problems that traditional business models have often overlooked. They are disrupting traditional business models and entire industries through their ideas, fueled by latest technologies. These startups are valued at over US$1 billion and are driving the next future of growth and innovation.

There are over 1,523 unicorns globally with a total valuation of US$5.6 trillion, which is a testament to their immense influence on the global economy. And as more and more companies achieve unicorn status and unicorns achieve decacorn (valued at over US$10 billion) and hectocorn (valued at over US$100 billion) status—they will further push economic growth; better product and service delivery; and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.

In Asia, unicorn companies have helped create job opportunities for millions of people, like in China with the greatest number of unicorns in Asia. Unicorns in China have employed 1.2 million people as of 2022. In India, fintech unicorns are rewriting the rules around finance—empowering millions with tools to save, invest, borrow, and insure with unprecedented ease. Slice is making credit accessible for often ignored segments of the population such as students, gig workers and young professionals, with little to no financial documentation or formal employment records. Another Indian unicorn, Groww made investing in stocks and mutual funds relatively easy to navigate and understand, helping millions to develop the habit to build wealth.

Also in traditionally critical industries such as drug discovery, which is both time and money consuming, several unicorns such as Insitro are helping speed up the process to develop medicines for metabolic diseases, neurological conditions, and degenerative disorders, by using machine learning to analyze huge datasets of chemical and biological markers. As of July 2025, the unicorn is valued at US$2.44 billion, with investors such as Foresite Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, and Third Rock Ventures.

The Rise of Unicorns

A startup with an innovative idea that is non-existent and is much needed in the society, is more likely to interest investors and grow into a unicorn. Startups such as Airbnb and Uber were able to grab market share, by filling existing gaps in the accommodation and traditional taxi service models. Uber refused to hire taxi drivers, rather it partnered with car owners with commercial licenses to offer taxicab rides. This entirely reduced the hassle of investing a large sum of capital to maintain a roster of drivers, and made it easier for the unicorn to scale its operations globally, with minimal hassle.

Entry to market at the right time is also a key factor. Take the case of Instacart that leveraged on social distancing and shuttering of physical stores amid the pandemic. The online grocery delivery platform witnessed a significant surge in its sales, as order volume jumped by 300% and customer basket size grew by 25% in 2020 due to “panic ordering”.

Unicorn’s success also lies in having a team of excellent talent with a visionary leadership backing it. From early on, ByteDance founder, Zhang Yiming, put together a solid team of engineers, product managers, and business strategists, helping TikTok become a global phenomenon. As of July 2025, ByteDance boasts of a valuation of US$300 billion—ranking second only to SpaceX, the world’s most valuable hectocorn company.

Ecosystem of Support

An ecosystem of corporations, government, and universities is a vital mix of ingredients that is helping scale startups to become unicorns. Boasting an ecosystem consisting of more than 38,000 startups, Brazil is home to 25 unicorns as of July 2025. The Latin American country, ranks number 11, in terms of total Unicorns created.

The Brazilian government’s willingness to support the growth of its startup ecosystem, is by far the core pillar supporting the transition of startups to unicorns. Launched in 2021, the Legal Framework for Startups, provides a more startup-friendly environment, safeguarding investor interests, introduction of digitalization to reduce bureaucracy, and showcase pilot projects or proof of concept, before public project fundings.

Funding the startup growth in Brazil was interest from funding houses, such as Softbank. The investment powerhouse entered Brazil in 2019, with an initial fund of US$5 billion, named the SoftBank Innovation Fund. At that time, such a large amount of fund was unprecedented, totaling the combined venture capital investments of 2017 and 2018 in Latin America.

Brazil is also one of the most attractive and compelling VC markets in Latin America, expected to receive over US$1.5 billion in VC funding in 2025, and accounting for nearly 60% of all startup funding across the region.

Brazil also has a rich culture of entrepreneurship. Student Entrepreneurship Societies (SES) are bottom-up organizations, that are led and developed by university students to promote entrepreneurship and innovation practices among students. SES are also supported by a mix of key stakeholders such as university professors, entrepreneurs, and startups.

Meanwhile for Estonia, their secret ingredient to startup success is digital adoption from very early-on by its government. The country boasts of a robust e-government infrastructure. Since the launch of its e-Residency status, the European country has become an innovation hub, attracting more than 100,000 digital entrepreneurs, allowing them to manage their companies entirely digitally, from anywhere in the EU. Moreover, Estonia also offers a 0% tax rate on retained and reinvested profits, making the country an attractive environment for businesses looking to scale.

For any robust ecosystem to function smoothly, a collaborative framework is required that rests on the purpose of enabling promising startups to access finance seamlessly and grow uninterruptedly.

At Horasis, we also believe that collaboration and cooperation is key to enabling an innovative startup culture that not only addresses solutions to problems overlooked by traditional market giants, but also actively contributes to economic growth. We are organizing the 10th edition of the Horasis Global Meeting, scheduled to take place in São Paulo, Brazil, between 7 to 10 October 2025. The meeting will host several panels and plenary sessions with experts from various fields, bringing their points-of-view and knowledge to seek a more holistic, inclusive, and sustainable framework to our present challenges.

Photo Caption: A tech startup in Brazil