Korean startup Tridge, an agricultural/livestock/fishery products data and trade platform company, becomes the first in the domestic agricultural sector to become a “unicorn” startup (unlisted startup with less than 10 years of business history and a corporate value of over 1 trillion won). A Ministry of SMEs and Startups report puts the latest unicorn startup count to 22 at the end of 2022.

According to the report released by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, there were 22 domestic unicorn companies, an increase of four from the end of the previous year. This resulted in 7 companies being added last year and 3 companies graduating from unicorn through the listing (Socar) and mergers and acquisitions (Aprogen, Timon). Among them, three companies (IGA Works, Tridge, and Korea Credit Data) have grown into unicorn companies after being selected as a preliminary unicorn special guarantee by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

Tridge, one of the seven newly added companies, was created in 2015 and focused on reducing information asymmetry and inefficiency in the agricultural market through its agricultural data platform and integrated supply chain management service.

In 2022, Megazone Cloud was listed as the first unicorn in Korea in the cloud field. Yeogiuhdae Company, which operates a comprehensive travel platform, Oasis, a 24-hour fresh food delivery company, Shift Up, IG Works, and Korea Credit Data were added to the list of unicorn startups in 2022.

The number of unicorn companies counted this time is the result of combining 14 companies listed in CB Insights, an American company analysis company, and 8 companies additionally identified by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups through the domestic investment industry. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has been adding and announcing self-discovered unicorn companies since 2020.

According to CB Insights, the number of unicorn companies globally reached 1,204 as of the end of 2022. The United States has the most with 651 companies, followed by China with 172, India with 70, Britain with 49, and Germany with 29. Korea (14) ranks 10th, along with Singapore (14) and Brazil (16).

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