- Total climbs to 48 as new entrants span robotics, chips and space tech
- Quasi-unicorn ranks expand to over 400, led by healthcare and IT
Hangzhou added eight companies to its unicorn ranks on Thursday, bringing the city’s total to 48, according to a high-profile annual ranking released at the 10th All Blossom Conference on April 23.
The new entrants—Hailiang Technology Services (海亮科服), Geener Microelectronics (晶能微电子), Spirit AI (千寻智能), Geespace (时空道宇), Sunrise (曦望), Seepin (新剑传动), DEEP Robotics (云深处科技) and Simplexity Robotics (至简动力)—span sectors from semiconductors and robotics to commercial aerospace.
The list, jointly released by the Hangzhou Entrepreneurship & Venture Association, Hangzhou Bank and think-tank Welian, highlights the city’s continued dominance in Zhejiang’s startup ecosystem.
As of April, Hangzhou accounted for 83% of the province’s 58 unicorns, up from 80% a year earlier.
The conference, now in its 9th year of publishing unicorn rankings, also released a list of 413 quasi-unicorns—companies typically valued between $100 million and $1 billion—including 50 new additions.
Several firms, such as Diagens Biotechnology (德适生物), Manycore Tech (群核科技), Mirxes (觅瑞), Promisemed (普昂医疗), Saint Bella (圣贝拉), Tide Pharmaceutical (泰德医药), Tongshifu (铜师傅) and ISV (易思维), were removed from the list after either scaling up to reach unicorn status or even securing an IPO.
Quasi-unicorns are concentrated in key sectors aligned with Hangzhou’s broader industrial strategy known as “296X,” led by life sciences with 118 firms, followed by next-generation information technology with 78 and AI and embodied intelligence with 50—together accounting for about 60% of the total.
More than half of both unicorns and quasi-unicorns (startups valued at $100 million to $1 billion)—255 companies—are classified as the nationally recognized “specialized and refined” enterprises.
They include 20 unicorns and 235 quasi-unicorns, reflecting the city’s push to build a pipeline of high-growth firms.
Since 2018, Hangzhou’s unicorn count has risen from 26 to 48, while quasi-unicorns have expanded from 105 to 413, underscoring sustained growth in its innovation-driven economy.
