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Ranked: Who Made the Most U.S. Unicorn Acquisitions Since 1997?

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A bubble chart visualizing the companies that made the most U.S.-based unicorn acquisitions between 1997 and 2021.

Who Made the Most U.S. Unicorn Acquisitions Since 1997?

The elusive unicorn is no longer a myth in the U.S. startup world, with over a thousand private startups reaching a $1 billion valuation in the last 25 years.

While some of these startups eventually go public and go on to become household names, it’s also common for founders to exit through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), by selling their startup to another organization. In fact, over half of the 1,110 unicorns in the U.S. have made some sort of an exit—either through an IPO, a direct listing, a SPAC or an acquisition—since 1997.

Ilya Strebulaev, professor of finance and private equity at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, brings us this visualization featuring the companies that acquired the most unicorns over the last 25 years.

Strebulaev’s database lists 137 private and public companies along with PE firms who’ve acquired at least one unicorn since 1997, totaling 177 acquisitions.

The Biggest U.S. Unicorn Acquirers

In total, 27 companies have acquired two or more unicorns, accounting for nearly 38% of all acquisitions. 110 companies have acquired just one unicorn.

Company/ PE GroupAcquired
Meta5
Cisco4
Alphabet4
Amazon3
Nortel Networks3
Bristol-Myers Squibb3
Johnson & Johnson3
Merck & Co.3
AT&T3
Recruit Holdings2
IBM2
Microsoft2
Thoma Bravo2
Headspace Health2
Allergan2
Qualcomm2
Rakuten2
Adobe Systems2
Eli Lilly2
Vista Equity2
Dell2
Uber2
Oracle2
Nestle2
Lucent Technologies2
Broadcom Corporation2
GlaxoSmithKline2
BlackBerry2
Searchlight Capital Partners1
Singtel1
Vmware1
Internet Capital Group1
Hellman & Friedman1
AppLovin1
Ciena Corporation1
Redback Networks1
Aether Systems1
Fresenius Medical Care1
Electronic Arts1
Genentech1
Inktomi1
VistaJet1
Ariba1
Keurig Dr Pepper1
Fullscreen1
Sycamore Networks1
Novartis1
TP ICAP1
eBay1
DoveBid1
McKesson1
IG Group1
Empower Retirement1
Dentsply Sirona1
Novo Nordisk1
Centocor1
Bausch Health1
Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma1
Medtronic1
Mubadala Investment Company1
Cint Group1
Qualtrics1
Rocket Companies1
Saudi Arabia's PIF1
Prosus1
Cigna1
One Medical1
Exact Sciences1
Teladoc Health1
Ericsson1
SoFi1
PayPal Holdings1
Bayer1
Monsanto1
AMD1
Aurora1
Marvell International1
Bill.com1
ADC1
Dealertrack1
Cox Enterprises1
L'Oreal1
AstraZeneca1
Workday1
Iron Mountain1
Splunk1
Stonepeak1
American Express1
OfferUp1
VMware1
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan1
Groupon1
Allstate Corporation1
LinkedIn1
SAP1
Mindbody1
Mallinckrodt1
Walmart1
GMT Communications1
Brightstar Capital1
Enterprise Holdings1
Healtheon Corporation1
Apple1
PetSmart1
Epiphany1
Rice Energy1
Unilever1
SBA Communications1
Bridgepoint Advisers1
Aurea1
Vector Capital1
FireEye1
Littlejohn & Co1
Alexion1
SoftBank Investment Advisers1
Francisco Partners1
Betfair Group1
Shift Technologies1
Hudson's Bay1
Illumina1
Hewlett Packard Enterprise1
AbbVie1
Salesforce1
Hanergy1
Teleflex1
Twilio1
Okta1
Celgene1
NantCell1
VMware & EMC Corp1
Intuit1
Yahoo!1
Netmarble Games1
F5 Networks1
Roche1
Centerbridge Partners1
Total177

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, leads the pack with the most unicorn acquisitions in the U.S., purchasing five unicorns since its founding in 2008, including: Kustomer, WhatsApp, Instagram, CTRL-Labs, and Oculus VR.

Notably, WhatsApp—which closed at a purchase price of $19 billion—was Meta’s most expensive acquisition yet, over nine times their next most expensive purchase, Oculus VR.

Meanwhile, Alphabet (now the parent company of Google) and Cisco are tied in second place with four U.S. unicorn acquisitions each.

  • Alphabet: YouTube, Actifio, Nest Labs, Looker Data Sciences
  • Cisco: Cerent, Duo Security, AppDynamics, Jasper

Unlike its Big Tech peers, Apple has only made the one U.S. unicorn acquisition: navigation company HopStop that helped bring public transit features to Apple Maps.

Meanwhile, 56% of acquirers received venture capital funding of their own when they were private companies. This includes pack leaders like Meta, Cisco, Alphabet, and Amazon.

Are Unicorn Acquisitions Slowing Down?

Unicorn acquisitions are driven by two factors: the rate at which new unicorns are minted, and the climate for M&A transactions more broadly.

To begin with, the minting of new unicorns is largely influenced by the venture funding environment. Funding opportunities increase when interest rates go down, which makes riskier, venture-scale ideas more enticing. During the last decade of persistently low interest rates up until 2022, unicorns flourished more than ever.

Meanwhile, as tech companies like Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta began seeing outsized profits in the 2010s, venture investors and their LPs looked to get in on the ground floor of tech startups that could emulate their success, often paying premium valuations for the chance. Simultaneously, big tech looked to acquire unicorns themselves, both to augment their business lines and to squash potential competitors.

However, the era of “easy money” may have come to an end, and privately-held startups have seen valuations drop in recent years. This means that for the next little while—at least until monetary policy stops tightening—unicorns could become a rarer sight.

Unicorn acquisitions may also see a similar fate. Persistent inflation and the government anti-trust push are just some of the other factors that have led to VC-backed startup acquisitions falling to their lowest quarterly levels in a decade. The more expensive the valuation, the harder to find a buyer, which means that some unicorns may even lose their $1 billion tag even when they do get acquired.

How does a startup become a unicorn? Check out How Startups Can Improve Their Odds of Becoming a Unicorn which provides a blueprint to navigate this enormous task.
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This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

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Ranked: The World’s 50 Largest Private Equity Firms

In this graphic, we show the largest private equity firms in the world—from titan Blackstone to China’s leading alternative funds.

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The World’s 50 Largest Private Equity Firms

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

In 2023, private equity firms controlled $8.2 trillion in assets globally according to McKinsey & Company, a figure that has rapidly expanded since the industry first emerged 40 years ago.

As large investors such as pension funds and insurance companies increasingly look to private markets, these alternative asset managers have seen their assets grow by more than twofold in the last five years.

This graphic shows the top 50 private equity firms worldwide, based on data from Private Equity International (PEI).

The Top 50 Private Equity Firms

To determine the rankings, private equity firms were defined as those that raise capital with the purpose of directly investing in businesses, covering diversified private equity, venture capital, growth equity, buyouts, along with turnaround or control-oriented distressed investment capital.

The ranking does not include funds of funds, private investment in public equity (PIPE), or funds that follow a secondaries, real estate, infrastructure, hedge fund, debt or mezzanine strategies.

Below, we show the 50 biggest private equity companies around the world, measured by the scale of capital raised over the five-year period ending March 31, 2023:

RankingFund ManagerCityCapital Raised
1BlackstoneNew York$125.6B
2KKRNew York$103.7B
3EQTStockholm$101.7B
4Thoma BravoChicago$74.1B
5The Carlyle GroupWashington DC$69.7B
6TPGFort Worth$55.0B
7Advent InternationalBoston$52.9B
8HgLondon$51.0B
9General AtlanticNew York$48.7B
10Warburg PincusNew York$48.5B
11Silver LakeMenlo Park$48.3B
12Goldman SachsNew York$45.4B
13Bain CapitalBoston$44.3B
14Clearlake Capital GroupSanta Monica$44.0B
15CVC Capital PartnersLuxembourg$41.8B
16Vista Equity PartnersAustin$41.5B
17Clayton, Dubilier & RiceNew York$41.1B
18Hellman & FriedmanSan Francisco$40.9B
19Insight PartnersNew York$40.2B
20Leonard Green & PartnersLos Angeles$39.6B
21Permira AdvisersLondon$34.8B
22CinvenLondon$32.7B
23Brookfield Asset ManagementToronto$31.2B
24Nordic CapitalSaint Helier$31.1B
25Genstar CapitalSan Francisco$29.9B
26Francisco PartnersSan Francisco$28.3B
27Tiger Global ManagementNew York$28.3B
28Blue Owl CapitalNew York$27.2B
29Partners GroupZug$26.7B
30Ares ManagementLos Angeles$26.6B
31Hillhouse Capital GroupSingapore$26.4B
32L CattertonGreenwich$24.1B
33Neuberger Berman
Private Markets
New York$23.7B
34PAI PartnersParis$23.7B
35TA AssociatesBoston$23.5B
36Apollo Global ManagementNew York$22.8B
37Stone Point CapitalGreenwich$22.3B
38BC PartnersLondon$20.3B
39Adams Street PartnersChicago$20.2B
40BlackRockNew York$19.9B
41BDT & MSD PartnersChicago$19.5B
42Veritas CapitalNew York$19.0B
43BridgepointLondon$18.0B
44ArdianParis$17.9B
45HarbourVest PartnersBoston$17.5B
46China Reform Fund
Management Corporation
Beijing$16.8B
47Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park$16.7B
48Thomas H. Lee PartnersBoston$16.0B
49Summit PartnersBoston$16.0B
50PSG EquityBoston$15.8B

Private equity titan Blackstone is the top in the United States and the world, raising $125.6 billion in capital from 2018 to 2023.

Headquartered in New York, Blackstone’s total assets under management stood at $991 billion as of the first quarter of 2023, and have since surpassed $1 trillion this year. For perspective, this is comparable to the GDP of the Netherlands.

Following next in line are KKR and Sweden’s EQT, each raising over $100 billion. In fact, this was the first time three firms achieved this $100 billion equity-raise milestone in PEI’s ranking over a five-year period. This was particularly notable given a challenging fundraising landscape amid higher borrowing costs and lagging dealmaking activity.

North American Firms Dominate Private Equity

As we can see, the vast majority of the biggest private equity firms are based in America, accounting for 36 of the top 50 firms globally. North American PE firms made up $1.34 trillion (72%) of the $1.85 trillion raised by the top 50 firms in the ranking.

Falling in second by a wide margin is Europe, with nine firms making up $179 billion (9.7%) of the total funds raised. Many of Europe’s largest private equity firms are based in London, England, with the most prominent asset managers in the city being Hg and Permira Advisors.

Across Asia, the top alternative investment firm was Singapore-based Hillhouse Capital Group, which launched in 2005. The firm has backed several internet companies spanning from Tencent, the largest publicly-traded company in China, to Baidu, but has faced increasing setbacks amid regulatory crackdowns and a sluggish Chinese stock market.

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