Number of 'unicorn' startups in China exceeds US number for first time

China now has more privately-held start-ups valued by investors at over $1 billion than the US, a report said Monday.

There were 206 Chinese firms out of a global total of 494 ultra-valuable start-ups -- known as "unicorns" -- in June 2019, according to the research firm Hurun Report.

This makes China the country with the largest number of unicorns in the world, with the US coming in second with 203 such companies.

"China and the US dominate with over 80 percent of the world's known unicorns, despite representing only half of the world's GDP and a quarter of the