On November 21, as one of the featured events of the 2024 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit, the “Integration of the Yangtze River Delta for Shared Digital Civilization – 2024 Digital Yangtze River Delta Development Conference” was held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang. The conference released the “2024 Yangtze River Delta Digital Economy Unicorn (Potential) Enterprise Influence Research Report” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”) completed by the new economy professional consulting firm Great Wall Strategy Consulting. The Report unveiled the first list of Yangtze River Delta digital economy unicorn (potential) enterprises, featuring 294 unicorn (potential) enterprises, with Shanghai having the highest number at 117.
According to the Report, there are a total of 294 digital economy unicorn (potential) enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta region, accounting for 50.1% of the total unicorn (potential) enterprises in the region. Among them, there are 104 unicorn enterprises and 190 potential unicorn enterprises.
The total valuation of these unicorn enterprises is approximately US$226 billion, with an average valuation of US$2.17 billion and a median valuation of US$1.49 billion. In terms of valuation distribution, 73 unicorn enterprises have valuations between US$1 billion (inclusive) and US$2 billion, accounting for 70.2% of the total; 28 enterprises have valuations between US$2 billion (inclusive) and US$10 billion, accounting for 26.9%; and 3 super unicorn enterprises have valuations of US$10 billion or more, accounting for 2.9%. These three super unicorn enterprises are ChangXin Memory Technologies in the chip sector, Xiaohongshu in the digital life sector, and Zeekr in the digital mobility sector, with ChangXin Memory Technologies having a valuation of US$19.85 billion.
The provinces and city of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui all have digital economy unicorn (potential) enterprises, collectively accounting for 50.1% of the total unicorn (potential) enterprises in the region. Specifically, there are 117 in Shanghai, 85 in Jiangsu, 66 in Zhejiang, and 26 in Anhui.
Distribution of digital economy unicorn (potential) enterprises in cities within the Yangtze River Delta.
These enterprises are distributed across 24 cities. Besides Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Nanjing are also major producers of digital economy unicorn (potential) enterprises, with 44, 38, and 28 enterprises respectively. The four cities of Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Nanjing together have 227 enterprises, accounting for 77.2% of the total digital economy unicorn (potential) enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta.
Other cities with more than 10 enterprises include Hefei with 19 and Wuxi with 11. Additionally, Ningbo has 8, Jiaxing has 5, Wuhu, Changzhou, and Huzhou each have 3, Shaoxing and Anqing each have 2, and Yangzhou, Yancheng, Zhenjiang, Nantong, Xuzhou, Jinhua, Wenzhou, Taizhou, Lishui, Huainan, and Lu’an each have 1.
The Report indicates that the digital economy unicorn (potential) enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta have become a significant force leading the digitization of industries and promoting the digital transformation of industries.
Among the 294 enterprises, 125 are in the digital industrialization sector, accounting for 42.5%. These enterprises are distributed across seven technological sectors: chips, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, big data, virtual reality, blockchain, and new displays. The chip sector leads significantly with 94 enterprises, accounting for 75.2% of the total enterprises in the digital industrialization sector; followed by the artificial intelligence sector with 14 enterprises; the quantum technology sector with 5 enterprises; the big data and virtual reality sectors each with 4 enterprises; and the blockchain and new display sectors each with 2 enterprises.
The industrial digitization sector has 169 enterprises, accounting for 57.5%. These enterprises are distributed across eight application sectors: digital mobility, digital healthcare, digital life, digital industry, digital supply chain, digital operations, fintech, and smart cities. The top three sectors in terms of enterprise numbers are digital mobility, digital healthcare, and digital life, with 48, 32, and 25 enterprises respectively, collectively accounting for 62.1% of the total enterprises in the industrial digitization sector; the digital industry, digital supply chain, and digital operations sectors have 21, 19, and 18 enterprises respectively; and the fintech and smart city sectors each have 3 enterprises.