From the 142 companies that reached the coveted status of unicorns in 2019 worldwide, Brazil places third, along with Germany, among the countries that had the highest number of startups to be valued at $1 billion or more. The survey, called Crunchbase Unicorn Board, was held by the American database and media outlet Crunchbase. 

Ranking only after the US – which saw 78 of its startups become unicorns – and China, with 22 – Brazil reached the third place thanks to 5 companies, from a wide range of sectors, that arrived at the $1 billion valuation position: the fitness membership program Gympass, the fintech EBANX, real estate startup QuintoAndar, delivery platform Loggi, and mobile games startup Wildlife. Just after, Germany shares the third place with the Latin American country, followed by UK, Israel, and India that are also in the top 5, with four unicorns each.

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As a result of the good moment of the startup ecosystem in Brazil, the country has already seen its first unicorn arise in 2020: Loft, which focuses on buying, selling and restoring real estate properties. The startup raised a $ 175 million investment last week. 

As for the investment firms that most raised capital to push these companies to become unicorns, the Japanese conglomerate Softbank is featured in the survey, having helped 8 companies to reach the status during 2019. Insight partners, however, appears as the fund that invested in more unicorns, with 13 companies in the portfolio. 

Although the year has been productive for Brazil when it comes to the startup sector, on a global scale, 2019 saw fewer companies become unicorns when compared to 2018, when 158 companies reached the billionaire valuation. In investment numbers, the year has also underperformed the previous one, raising $ 85.1 billion up from $ 139 billion in 2018.