The article studied the essence and history of the term "unicorn startups", identified features of the formation and development of unicorn companies, outlined the main differences between unicorn startups and traditional innovative companies. The author analyzed the geographical and sectoral features of unicorn startups, identified economic activities, and locations of the most active occurrence of unicorn digs on a global scale.
The article analyzed the main factors of successful formation and development of unicorn startups, among them, identified a very important factor – the state and quality of national ecosystems of startups, that create favorable economic conditions and investment climate for the emergence and rapid development of such companies. The presence of a developed and competitive national ecosystem for the development of unicorn startups implies the availability of first-class investment venture funds with international professionals who can select potential unicorns in the early stages of the startup life cycle, provide competent management and intelligence services, also provide sufficient and necessary amounts of venture capital investment. Rapid scaling of startups is not possible without sufficient demand. Developing countries with low demand for technology and local market capacity, limited resources to build venture capital funds need to create the right legal framework to improve the investment climate, attract global venture funds and establish effective cooperation between govern- ment, business, and science within the startup ecosystem.
Thus, it can be concluded that unicorn companies are the product of successful national startup ecosystems, and the factor of support, initiation, and development of national startup ecosystems is critical both for the emergence of such companies and for the successful development of the national ecosystem. Unicorns are a very important criterion for improving its position in the global ranking of ecosystems.
Improving the position of national ecosystems in global rankings will contribute to the inflow of foreign venture capital, attract investors and influencers with an international name, will determine the future development of the domestic ecosystem of startups, and increase the number of unicorn startups in our country.
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