China produced 67 new unicorns in the first half of 2026

China has witnessed its second-highest number of new unicorns created in a half-year, amid the boom in AI and robotics. 

In the first half of 2026, ending June, ITJuzi reports that China produced 67 new unicorns, which are private companies valued at least $1 billion. 

By that count, it means a new unicorn was created roughly every three days in H1. That’s the second-fastest half-year growth China has witnessed since H2 of 2021, when 76 unicorns were created.

AI, robotics mint 53% of new Chinese unicorns

At the time in 2021, the growth was spread across electric vehicles, biomedicine, and consumer internet businesses. However, this year’s run was mostly concentrated on AI and robotics, which together accounted for more than 53% of the cohort, according to the report. 

The standout was DeepSeek.The Hangzhou-based AI company closed its first outside funding round at a valuation of nearly 400 billion yuan, or about $59.2 billion. 

Last year, DeepSeek once shook the U.S. AI stock market after announcing its flagship AI system, known as R1, was trained for just $294,000, a fraction of what the likes of OpenAI were spending. 

DeepSeek ranks the fourth-highest of any Chinese unicorn behind just ByteDance, Ant Group, and Shein.

Meanwhile, about 78% of the new unicorns carried valuations between $1 billion and $2 billion. 

Per the report, 32 of all the unicorns were founded within the past three years, and 14 date to 2023 alone, the year that followed OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT in late 2022.

Elsewhere, TechCrunch reports that a total of 90 unicorns were created in H1 2026 around the world, citing data from PitchBook. The growth was also led by the AI sector boom. 

The report would mean China accounts for over 74% of all new unicorns created within the first 6 months of the year. 

The growth of the Chinese AI and robotics sectors has since been notable. 

Morgan Stanley reviewed its outlook on Chinese humanoid robot shipments three times this year, predicting now that China could ship 50,000, nearly double the previous 28,000 it expected.

Even within its industrial base, more than 30% of China’s large-scale industrial enterprises are said to have adopted AI. 

Top Chinese robot makers eye IPO next

Some of its leading robot makers are now also heading to public markets. 

The China Securities Regulatory Commission recently cleared Unitree Robotics for a Shanghai STAR Market listing on July 3, a deal set to raise about 4.2 billion yuan ($618.4 million) and value the company near 42 billion yuan, or $6.18 billion, as Cryptopolitan earlier reported. 

Unitree is a rarity among Chinese robotics firms because it turns a profit, reporting 1.7 billion yuan ($250.4 million) in 2025 revenue and 591 million yuan ($87 million) in adjusted profit. 

AGIBOT, the largest vendor by shipments, is weighing a Hong Kong listing later in 2026 at a valuation of HK$40 billion to HK$50 billion.

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