Signal More than 1,300 unicorns exist worldwide and twelve exceed the median S&P 500 company

Summary

A growing share of the world's most influential companies no longer trade on a stock exchange. CB Insights counts more than 1,300 unicorns, meaning private companies valued at one billion dollars or more. Twelve of them carry valuations above the median market capitalisation of the S&P 500, which the firm puts at about 39 billion dollars based on data from early January 2026. In other words, some private firms are now bigger than a typical large listed American company. CB Insights uses this to argue that tracking only public tickers misses a large part of corporate value. The figure underpins its broader claim that private markets are taking over roles once played by public ones.