China’s unicorns diminishing

China’s unicorns have fallen from 192 in 2021 to 137 in 2022 to 106 in 2023, says the report.

While the number of Chinese unicorns nearly tripled between 2016 and 2023 from 131 to 375, says the report, those that IPO’d fell by more than a third between 2021 and 2023, from 31 to 19.

US moves to restrict dollar funds investing in China have affected the funding of Chinese startups.

In August 2023, US President Joe Biden announced restrictions on US VC and private equity stakes in Chinese firms engaged in chips, AI, quantum and information technologies

As a result, says the report, US-dollar funds accounted for 28% of all Chinese fundraising deals in 2023, compared with 35.5% in 2022 and 50% in 2021.

At the same time, the US is making it difficult for Chinese firms to list on US stock markets, cutting them off from another source of dollar funding.