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Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Tech Company "Unicorns"

Photo credit: Electronic_Frontier_Foundation / Foter / CC BY
In the world of Technology companies the term "unicorn" was coined around 2013 and popularized in 2015. It is now a very common term to see in tech news headlines.

A "unicorn" tech company is one that was recently launched (a "start up") and is valued at over a billion dollars.  Companies with these features are said to be "in the unicorn club".

The proliferation of companies that fit these criteria is seen by some commentators as suggesting that the "tech bubble" will soon burst, leading to a precipitous loss of value in companies across the tech sector.

Adi Tatarko (of Houzz) has suggested that unicorn companies should not be defined by their theoretical  monetary value but by whether their influence on their industry is transformative.