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Nearly two decades ago, tech startups used to chase the distinct pedigree of being a unicorn — reaching a $1 billion valuation.
Now, fast-growing tech startups like OpenAI and SpaceX have shifted the goal posts by hundreds of billions of dollars.
The era of the hectocorn has arrived. It is a small but growing club, and you must be valued at more than $100 billion to qualify.
The next company to join the list could be Waymo, the self-driving robotaxi startup owned by Alphabet Inc. The autonomous automaker is in talks to raise billions in a new round of funding that could send its value soaring past $100 billion, multiple outlets reported on Wednesday.
Here are seven startups that have already reached hectocorn status.
OpenAI
One of the buzziest startups to emerge in Silicon Valley over the last decade is OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. After launching in 2022, the AI-powered chatbot attracted hundreds of millions of weekly users, cementing OpenAI’s position as a leader in the AI race.
CEO Sam Altman cofounded OpenAI alongside eleven others in 2015.
OpenAI reached a $500 billion valuation in October after a secondary share sale, making it, at least for a few months, the most valuable private company in the world. The Information reported on Wednesday that it is seeking to raise many billions more at a gobsmacking $750 billion valuation.
SpaceX
Tesla CEO Elon Musk expanded his business portfolio in 2002 when he founded SpaceX, an aerospace startup based in Texas that has completed over 320 launches. The core mission for SpaceX is to make humanity multi-planetary.
SpaceX has secured numerous contracts with NASA. In 2024, NASA tapped SpaceX to retrieve the International Space Station from orbit in 2030 before its operational life is over.
SpaceX was the most valuable private company in the world, with a $400 billion valuation, before OpenAI surpassed it in October. SpaceX, however, is planning its own secondary share sale, which would value it at a whopping $800 billion.
The startup is also exploring an initial public offering in 2026, at a potential valuation of $1.5 trillion.
Anthropic
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and President Daniela Amodei cofounded Anthropic, an AI startup, alongside four others in 2021.
All of them were former employees of OpenAI.
Anthropic’s main product is Claude, a family of large language models that power an eponymous AI chatbot.
Anthropic has received major investments from tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, as well as the pick-and-shovel company of the AI rush, chipmaker Nvidia.
In September, Anthopic’s valuation reached $183 billion. However, Business Insider reported in November that Google is in discussions to increase its investment in Anthropic, which could boost its value past $350 billion.
ByteDance
ByteDance, based in China, gained widespread recognition through its popular social media app, TikTok. Although the startup introduced the app to Chinese users in 2016, it later launched an international version a year later. It also acquired the popular app Musical.ly that year, transferring all its users to TikTok, which fueled its growth.
TikTok is now one of the most widely used social media sites in the world. It specializes in short-form videos and opened a popular e-commerce retailer, TikTok Shop, in 2023.
Zhang Yiming founded ByteDance in 2012, and its current CEO is Liang Rubo.
In August, ByteDance valued itself at $330 billion as it explored a share buyback program for employees. Fidelity, an early investor in ByteDance, has valued the company even higher, at $380 billion.
Databricks
Databricks is a software and AI startup founded in 2013. It is led by cofounder Ali Ghodsi, who serves as CEO. Databricks offers enterprises its Data Intelligence Platform, which manages and implements cloud infrastructure.
The startup says it uses generative AI to understand an enterprise’s data, then “it automatically optimizes performance and manages infrastructure to match your business needs.”
Databricks was on track to become a hectocorn in 2024 when it announced a new funding round to raise $10 billion, lifting its valuation to $62 billion.
Databricks recently announced it was raising over $4 billion in a new funding round, raising its valuation to $134 billion.
Stripe
Brothers John Collison and Patrick Collison founded Stripe, an online payment startup for businesses, in 2010.
Stripe reached a $20 billion valuation in 2018 but has grown rapidly in recent years. The startup reached a $36 billion valuation in 2020 and $95 billion the following year after a $600 million raise.
In September, Bloomberg reported that Stripe’s value had risen to $106.7 billion, putting it just barely in the hectocorn club.
xAI
xAI is Elon Musk’s newest business venture, founded in 2023. The startup develops AI tools, including Grok, a large language model that powers a chatbot of the same name. Musk has implemented the technology across his companies, including X and Tesla.
Reports in November 2024 valued the startup at $50 billion. That number rose in March to $80 billion after xAI acquired X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter that Musk purchased in 2022. At the time, Musk said X was valued at $33 billion, so the two startups reached a combined valuation of $113 billion.
Multiple outlets reported in November that xAI was raising another $15 billion, at a $230 billion valuation. Musk, however, denied those reports at the time.
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