$1 trillion is no longer enough to acquire startups. Just three years ago, it would have taken around $1 trillion to acquire the 100 most valuable private startups in the U.S. But the situation is completely different now. With valuations of venture startups soaring, acquiring just one of the newly formed giants, the recent merger of SpaceX and xAI, would have required at least $1.25 trillion (about 1,800 trillion won).
According to market research firm Forge, acquiring all 100 most valuable startups in the United States by current standards would require approximately $3.5 trillion (about 5040 trillion won). This signifies the arrival of an era of inflated unicorn valuations, demonstrating a trend of promising startups seeing valuations exceeding expectations and rising rapidly.
A prime example is SpaceX's recent acquisition of Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI, which boosted the combined entity's valuation to $1.25 trillion. This move is interpreted as an attempt to go public within the year. Meanwhile, OpenAI, a leading generative AI company, is pushing to raise $100 billion (approximately 144 trillion won) in funding, targeting a valuation exceeding $750 billion. Competitor Anthropic has already raised $10 billion and is expected to potentially raise an additional $20 billion or more. The company received recognition of a $350 billion valuation earlier this year.
Databricks, a company based on AI and data, recently raised $5 billion in new funding at a valuation of $134 billion. Its publicly disclosed annual revenue of over $5.4 billion further heightened investor expectations. Waymo, a self-driving car technology company, also raised $16 billion in funding, gaining a new valuation of $126 billion. Payment platform Stripe had already secured a substantial valuation of $91.5 billion a year ago.
The upward trend in value is equally evident among the so-called "next-generation unicorns." Blockchain company Ripple received a $40 billion valuation after a $50 billion investment last November; general-purpose humanoid robot developer Figure recorded a $39 billion valuation. Automated financial platform Ramp saw its valuation soar from $22.5 billion to $32 billion in just a few months; and Safe Superintelligence, which has garnered attention for its "secure superintelligence" concept, recorded a $32 billion valuation while raising $2 billion in funding.
Defense technology upstart Anduril Industries raised $2.5 billion, valuing the company at $30.5 billion; AI semiconductor firm Cerebras Systems recently completed a $1 billion funding round, bringing its valuation to approximately $23 billion. Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken also raised its valuation to $20 billion around the same time.
Of particular note is that most of these companies reached new peaks in the last six months to a year. SpaceX was valued at around $350 billion a year ago, and OpenAI was valued at $157 billion just 14 months ago. Compared to now, these figures seem to come from another era.
Analysts believe that the recent surge in valuations is a result of the potential reopening of the IPO market and competition for leading companies in rapidly developing emerging industries such as AI, defense, and fintech. How long these valuation levels can be sustained remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: market predictions made a year or two ago that a short-term valuation adjustment was inevitable have completely failed to materialize.
