Things to know about 'decacorns'

Yes, startups can outgrow their unicorn status.

Startups valued over $1 billion are known as unicorns, but there's a separate category for the companies valued at even higher levels. These startups have a special name: decacorns.

Here is everything to know about decacorns

They're worth a lot of money

Decacorns are companies with valuations of at least $10 billion. These are the startups that have outgrown their unicorn status because there are still opportunities to scale up. 

The birth of decacorns comes after the unicorn market started to become too crowded. Unicorns were previously deemed mythical creatures. Yet CB Insights stated there are 184 unicorns currently in the wild, and with so many, maybe they aren't as rare as previously thought.

What are the decacorn startups?

Decacorn startups can be found in many industries, from personal services to cloud computing. According to Business Insider, here are the most valuable decacorns (in total valuation amount) in the U.S.:

1. Uber - $68 billion.
2. Airbnb - $30 billion.
3. Palantir - $20.5 billion.
4. Snap Inc. - $18.2 billion.
5. WeWork - $17 billion.
6. SpaceX - $12 billion.
7. Pinterest - $10.5 billion.
8. Dropbox - $10 billion.

A majority of the above companies don't have any intentions of going public anytime soon. Instead, they're focused on expanding their services and penetrating new markets, all while continually attracting more investors.

Uber, for example, raised $3.5 billion in private equity in the summer of 2016, according to crunchbase. The company wants to continue appealing to investors so it can pursue other business opportunities, such as driverless cars and expansion into Southeast Asia, Business Insider stated.

But while Uber, Dropbox and Airbnb continue to go through investing rounds, Snap and Pinterest may soon go public. Just before the end of 2016, Snap filed for an IPO that may value the company between $25 and $40 billion.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that Pinterest named Todd Morgenfeld its first chief financial officer in a move widely seen as a sign of Pinterest's intentions to file for an IPO.

Decacorns arguably find themselves in an odd position. They can either remain private and continue to receive startup financing, or since they're big enough, they can go public.

Either way, the age of the decacorn is here.

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