The $10 Billion Club
A decacorn is a startup valued at $10 billion or more while still privately held. The term extends “unicorn” ($1B+) for the ultra-elite tier of venture-backed companies.
The List (as of 2023)
U.S. Decacorns:
- ByteDance (TikTok): $180B+ (largest private startup ever)
- SpaceX: $150B+
- Stripe: $95B
- Instacart: $39B → went public 2023
- Databricks: $43B
- Canva: $40B (Australia-based, global)
- Epic Games (Fortnite): $31.5B
- Chime: $25B (fintech)
- Fanatics: $31B (sports merchandise)
- Discord: $15B
International Decacorns:
- Ant Group (China): $150B+ (Alibaba’s fintech arm)
- Shein (China): $100B (fast fashion)
- Grab (Singapore): $40B → went public via SPAC 2021
- Klarna (Sweden): $46B → down round to $6.7B in 2022
How They Got There
Network effects: ByteDance, Discord — more users = more value
Infrastructure: Stripe, Databricks — sell to every company
Consumer scale: Shein, Instacart — massive TAM (total addressable market)
SoftBank Vision Fund: Pumped $100B into startups 2017-2019, creating artificial decacorns
The Problem
Paper valuations: Private markets let investors set valuations without public scrutiny.
Down rounds: Klarna crashed 85%, Instacart 75% at IPO, many others marked down 50%+.
Illiquidity: Employees hold stock options but can’t sell until IPO/acquisition.
The IPO Reality Check
When decacorns go public, reality hits:
- Uber: $82B IPO (2019), traded below IPO price for years
- Airbnb: $47B IPO (2020), now $90B+ (success story)
- Instacart: $10B IPO (2023), down 75% from peak private valuation
Hectocorn ($100B+)
Only one: ByteDance ($180B+). Ant Group was close before China crackdown.
Cultural Significance
Decacorn status = trophy for VCs. Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global compete to back them. Founders become celebrities. Employees millionaires (on paper).
But 2022-2023 crash taught lesson: Private valuations ≠ real worth.