China created 46 startups worth at least $1 billion in the five years since 2012 - 80% of all of Asia's unicorns
Silicon Valley is still the global leader in startup creation, but Chinese cities Beijing and Shanghai are leading the pack over in Asia, hot on the heels of their Western counterparts.
Most of the "heavyweight hubs" - meaning cities with stable growth startups and a higher concentration of later stage rounds - are in the US, according to a survey conducted by CB Insights, but half of the notably "high growth" cities are located in Asia. The latter is defined by a few characteristics, namely higher dollar investments, and includes big-name cities like Tokyo and New Delhi. However, as this chart from Statista shows, Chinese cities most consistently see the results.
About 80% of the Asian startups that hit the $1 billion milestone (AKA unicorns) between 2012 and 2017 are based out of China, with Shanghai creating 29 and Beijing creating 17. For some perspective: Silicon Valley created 57 in the same period of time, but New York only created 13.
Beijing startups alone brought in $72 billion in funding since 2012, second only to Silicon Valley's $140 billion; New York brought in $36 billion and Shanghai brought in $23 billion.
