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By October 9, 2026, 42 startups worldwide had reached a valuation of at least $10 billion, according to figures attributed to PitchBook by Axios. That already exceeds the previous full-year global record of 34 in 2021. The 2026 total is a year-to-date count, not a final calendar-year tally. Axios also reported that the average time to reach decacorn status fell from 9.4 years in 2020 to 5.5 years in 2025, citing PitchBook.
What counts as a decacorn?
A decacorn is a startup or private company valued at $10 billion or more. The count here concerns companies newly reaching that valuation threshold during a period; it is not the number of companies that currently remain valued above $10 billion.
How many startups became decacorns in 2026?
Axios reported 42 new global decacorns through October 9, 2026, citing PitchBook-based market counts. That year-to-date figure was already higher than the 34 companies reported for all of 2021 and the 14 reported for 2020.
| Period and geography | New decacorns reported | What the figure represents |
|---|---|---|
| 2026, global, through October 9 | 42 | Year-to-date count reported by Axios, citing PitchBook-based counts. |
| 2021, global | 34 | Completed-year count reported by Axios. |
| 2020, global | 14 | Completed-year count reported by Axios. |
| 2026, United States, through July 24 | 19 | US-only snapshot reported by PitchBook News. |
| 2021, United States | 22 | Prior US annual record cited by PitchBook News. |
The national snapshot is not a contradiction: PitchBook News’ 19 refers to US startups by July 24, while Axios’ 42 covers the global tally through October 9. The dates, geographic scope and reporting sources differ. Nor should the 42 be read as the number of all companies valued above $10 billion; it is a count of new threshold crossings during the year to that date.
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- "Startups" is the updated version of an older Oink Game which came out in 2015 and won the second prize at Game Market Tokyo: "Rights". We upgraded the rules, the design and it is even possible to play with more players now!
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How quickly are companies reaching $10 billion?
Axios reported PitchBook’s average time-to-decacorn figures as 5.5 years in 2025 and 9.4 years in 2020. The figures indicate a shorter reported average in 2025, but the underlying cohort definition and calculation method are not established in the available reporting. They should not be treated as a guaranteed timeline for a new startup, or as a measure of how long any one company will take.
What may be behind the faster threshold crossings?
Dealroom’s September 1, 2026 analysis counted 38 venture-capital-backed companies founded since 2020 that had reached valuations of at least $10 billion. It observed that recent fast crossings were concentrated in AI and AI-infrastructure businesses. This is a separate founding-cohort count, not a reconciliation of the 42-company global year-to-date tally, and it does not establish that AI alone caused the broader increase.
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How to read the record carefully
- Check the date: 42 is the global total reported through October 9, 2026, with time remaining in the year.
- Check the geography: US-only totals are smaller and cannot be compared directly with global counts.
- Check the unit: New companies crossing $10 billion differ from the stock of companies currently above that valuation.
- Check the cohort: Dealroom’s 38 companies founded since 2020 describe a selected founding group, not all new decacorns in 2026.
- Allow for coverage differences: The cited reports do not establish identical inclusion rules for every count, so the figures should not be combined into a single time series without qualification.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
