decacorn
[dek-uh-kawrn]
What does decacorn mean?
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A decacorn is a financial term for a relatively new company that is worth at least $10 billion.
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Examples of decacorn
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Examples of decacorn
Indonesian ride-hailing service Go-Jek’s value was estimated at $10 billion by a U.S. market intelligence company, putting it in the ranks of startups called decacorns.
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Where does decacorn come from?
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A unicorn is a mythical horse with a single horn protruding form its head. In 2013, venture capitalist Aileen Lee wrote an article for TechCrunch where she likened new companies (startups) valued at over $1 billion to unicorns—famously rare in legend, just like such companies.
By 2015, such unicorns had become more more common in the business world. So, a 2015 Business Insider article described companies valued at over $10 billion as decacorns, what Lee previously dubbed “super unicorns.” The article identified Airbnb, Uber, and Pinterest as decacorns, among others.
INFOGRAPHIC 41-billion dollar Uber tops the list of "decacorn" US tech startups @AFP pic.twitter.com/5WV7XLao6e
— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 8, 2015
While the uni– in unicorn comes from the Latin-based prefix uni- (“one”), decacorn features the prefix deca–, ultimately from the Greek word for “ten.” FYI, there are no decacorns in myth (horses with ten horns).
Companies valued at over $100 billion, like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, are called hectocorns (hecto-, “hundred”), JSYK.
Who uses decacorn?
The term decacorn is principally found in tech and business media and discussions. As noted, it often refers to a relatively new, tech-based startup company that is privately owned (i.e., not (yet) publicly traded).
As of 2019, the platform CB Insights valued 17 companies as decacorns with China’s ByteDance (who owns TikTok) as the “fattest” decacorn at a $75 billion evaluation. Other notable decacorns include Airbnb ($29.3 billion) and Fortnite creator Epic Games ($15 billion).
Southeast Asian media is ablaze with discussion of the latest “decacorn” https://t.co/xhn8CWvsDx
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) April 8, 2019
Decacorns made news in 2019 as companies like Lyft, Uber, and Pinterest went public.
Lyft and other money-losing Decacorn IPOs – in pictures. @WSJ – https://t.co/lIAYGL6dzZ
— Dan Gallagher (@djtgallagher) March 29, 2019