Since the rise of startups in Indonesia, the term “unicorn” has become common parlance. Not the mythical horned horse unicorn, but a startup worth more than $1 billion. There are also decacorns, or startups, with over $10 billion in revenue. The value of hectocorns was the highest on the list. What exactly is a hectocorn startup, and what are some examples?
Also read: Seed Funding and Ways to Get Investors for Startups
What is a Hectocorn Startup?
Hectocorn startups have a greater value than unicorns and decacorns, which is over $100 billion, or approximately Rp 1,501.5 trillion. Hectocorn companies are referred to as “super unicorns” due to their high value. Few startups have attained such a high valuation, so it is rarely discussed. Because of this, relatively little is known about how to grow startups to a hectocorn valuation. Because, even on a global scale, few startups have succeeded.
Example of a Hectocorn Company
What Is a Hectocorn Startup? (source: Freepik)
In Indonesia and Southeast Asia, there are no hectocorn startup. Nonetheless, a number of startups around the world have achieved phenomenal valuations. What are these companies? Here is the entire list.
1. Bytedance
This holding company of TikTok is valued at US$140 billion, or Rp2,030 trillion (at the current exchange rate of Rp14,500 per US dollar). This indicates that their worth is equivalent to 14 decacorns.
Bytedance is a Chinese internet company founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming. They did not instantly become hectocorns. Bytedance is backed by General Atlantic, SoftBank, Sequoia Capital, Hillhouse, Source Code Capital, KKR, and SIG Asia Investment, among others.
This multinational corporation offers an assortment of smartphone app products, including TikTok, Douyin, Lark (productivity applications), Toutiao (news aggregator), Xiqua Video, and Babe (news aggregator). In addition, Bytedance owns the well-known game developer startup Garena, which is responsible for creating the popular game Free Fire.
2. Amazon
This company began as an expedition company and has since become one of the world’s hectocorns. The valuation of the company founded by Jeff Bezos reached $131,2 billion, surpassing that of Facebook’s Chinese rival Tencent.
Also read: The Differences Between Unicorn, Decacorn, and Hectocorn
3. Tencent
Tencent was previously valued higher than Facebook. Currently, it is worth $130.9 billion. Despite this decrease in value, Tencent remains on the list of hectocorn corporations. This Chinese company has a variety of popular products, including WeChat, JOOX, Tencent Pictures, and JD.com, as well as PUBG and Call of Duty Online.
4. Facebook
The social media that caused a stir in the early 2000s amassed a market value of 159 billion dollars. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes in 2004. After acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp in 2022, Facebook rebranded as Meta in 2022.
After understanding the definition and examples of a hectocorn, startup founders should be able to expand their business growth objectives to include not only a unicorn but also a decacorn and a hectocorn.
