Recently,Great-wall Enterprise Institute released“the China Unicorn Companies Research Report 2024”.The report shows that there are 375 unicorn companies in China in 2023,with a total valuation of about 1.2 trillion dollars.Among them,a total of 4 companies in Chengdu Hi-tech Zone were selected in the list of Chinese Unicorn Companies in 2023,which are Medlinker,WESTVAC,FITURE,and Shuyi Tealicious.

China's unicorn companies in 2023 are distributed across 39 tracks,with unicorn companies accelerating emergence in areas such as large models,controlled nuclear fusion,GPU chips,semiconductor materials,hydrogen energy,new energy storage,and synthetic biology.Nearly 70%of unicorn companies in frontier technology fields such as integrated circuits,clean energy,and commercial spaceflight,which totaled 249,and this proportion was even higher among newly emerged unicorn companies,which exceeded 80%.

The four companies selected as unicorn companies in Chengdu Hi-Tech Zone,namely Medlinker,WESTVAC,FITURE,and Shuyi Tealicious,are distributed in the digital healthcare,innovative pharmaceuticals,tourism and sports,and Internet Celebrity Hot selling Products tracks.Looking back at the past year,each of these four unicorn companies has excellent performance in the industry.

Founded in 2014,Medlinker is a pioneer and leader in Internet hospitals.In 2017,Medlinker obtained an Internet hospital license and opened the first Internet hospital department in 2018,with 100,000 registered doctors and the platform covering a number of disease disciplines such as oncology,cardiovascular,cerebrovascular,diabetes,respiratory,and other areas.Since its development,Medlinker has been the largest Internet hospital in China,and the enterprise is now valued at$4 billion.

On May 25,2023,Medlinker officially released its self-developed MedGPT based on the Transformer architecture,which is also reportedly the first medical large language model in China,known as"AI doctor".

MedGPT is mainly committed to exerting the value of diagnosis and treatment in real medical scenarios,and realizing the intelligent diagnosis and treatment capability of the whole process from disease prevention,diagnosis,treatment to rehabilitation.Medlinker MedGPT is currently able to cover more than 80%of the diseases in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision(ICD10).

Unicorn companies have high growth while leading the industry in innovation and development.Chengdu Hi-tech Zone company WESTVAC is one of the representatives on the list.Founded in 2020 in Chengdu Tianfu International Bio-town,WESTVAC is an innovative biopharmaceutical enterprise integrating vaccine research and development,production and sales.

Founded only one year earlier,WESTVAC has been newly recognized as a 2021 Chinese Unicorn,and this time,it is once again honored on the 2023 Chinese Unicorn list.During the COVID-19,WESTVAC was the first company in China to enter clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine in a developed country.

On June 8,2023,the Recombinant COVID-19 Trivalent(XBB.1.5+BA.5+Delta)Protein Vaccine(Sf9 cells)developed by WESTVAC/West China Hospital,Sichuan University——the Weikexin 3-valent XBB vaccine,was incorporated into the emergency use with the approval of the relevant state departments,which is the first COVID-19 vaccine approved for emergency use in the world for variant strains such as XBB,marking that China's COVID-19 vaccine research and innovation has taken the lead in the world.The latest valuation of the company is 1.6 billion yuan.

FITURE was founded in 2019,is a technology fitness product company based on artificial intelligence technology and big data technology,with"hardware+content+service+AI"smart fitness concept and product"FITURE Magic Mirror"has become the home of the smart fitness field widely concerned brand.In April,2021,FITURE secured a financing of$300 million,which is still the largest single financing in this segment.

Its main product is FITURE Magic Mirror,an intelligent fitness mirror product,with users covering more than 95%of cities and regions in China.In the 31st FISU World University Games and the BWF Thomas&Uber Cup 2024,FITURE Magic Mirror appeared in the sports venues,providing smart and leisure technology fitness services to the athletes from different countries.

In early March 2023,FITURE announced the completion of the acquisition of AI fitness platform BodyPark,after which BodyPark will operate as an independent brand under FITURE.FITURE said to the public that after the completion of the acquisition,FITURE and BodyPark will realize complementary advantages,integrating their respective advantageous resources such as hardware,content,services,and AI technologies.According to the report,FITURE is currently valued at$1.54 billion.

Among the unicorns on the list,Shuyi Tealicious is particularly"special".The"special"is that it is the only catering company on the list in the local life segment,and it is located in the new tea drinks segment,which is particularly competitive in the Internet Celebrity Hot selling Products track.

"Shuyi Tealicious is a well-known local brand in Sichuan Province,which belongs to Sichuan Shuyi Catering Management Co.,Ltd.Currently,Shuyi Tealicious has about 7,000 stores in more than 30 provinces and its latest valuation is$1.49 billion.

Photography by Yu Shuhan

Focusing on enterprise innovation and development,Chengdu Hi-Tech Zone has become the main gathering place of unicorn companies and incubator of potential unicorns in Southwest China by continuously improving its policy and service system of scientific and technological innovation,industry cultivation and industrial services,as well as increasing its support to enterprises.

In recent years,Chengdu Hi-Tech Zone has experienced accelerated growth and record-high financing results for new unicorns,and potential unicorns have doubled and surged in the near two years.By the end of 2023,Chengdu Hi-Tech Zone has cultivated a total of 8 unicorns and 29 potential unicorns,with the number of(potential)unicorns leading in Central and Western China.