AI Services And Robotics Lead Diverse Crop Of 29 New May Unicorns As SpaceX, Anthropic And OpenAI Line Up Blockbuster Exits

Crunchbase reported that 29 companies joined its Unicorn Board in May, with the strongest theme being AI deployment services, AI infrastructure, autonomous software, and robotics rather than new foundation models. OpenAI and Anthropic both launched multibillion-dollar ventures to help enterprises use AI, while other new unicorns included companies in healthcare, quantum computing, aerospace, financial services, manufacturing, e-commerce, energy, social media, data centers, legaltech, cryptocurrency, and security. The new unicorns were mostly U.S.-based, with 17 in the United States, four each in China and the UK, two in Canada, and one each in India and Brazil.

The broader Unicorn Board reached $9.9 trillion in value in May, helped by high valuations for major private companies. Anthropic moved ahead of OpenAI to become the second most valued private company after SpaceX, and both Anthropic and OpenAI confidentially filed for IPOs. SpaceX was also expected to list publicly in what would be the largest-ever IPO, removing more than one-tenth of the board's value when it exits private markets. Cerebras also went public in May at a $56.4 billion valuation, well above its February private valuation of $23 billion.

Among the notable new unicorns were OpenAI Deployment Company, valued at $14 billion after a $4 billion private equity round; Hark, a robotics company valued at $6 billion; MiRus, a cardiovascular and orthopedic treatment provider valued at $4.4 billion; OnlyFans, valued at $3.2 billion after raising its first external funding; and Armada, a modular data center builder valued at $2.2 billion. The article also described Crunchbase's methodology, noting that the board includes private companies with post-money valuations of at least $1 billion and does not adjust for internal valuations or investor writedowns.

(Source：Crunchbase)