1. ByteDance
Valuation: $300 billion
Country: China
Beijing-based Byte Dance, which became a unicorn in 2017, is valued at $140 billion according to its last fundraising round in 2020.
However, secondary market transactions in 2022 have reportedly placed a higher valuation of $300 billion. The company is best-known for its social video app TikTok and its local version Douyin. Main investors in the company are Sequoia Capital China, SIG Asia Investment, KKR, and SoftBank Group. ByteDance reportedly more than tripled its operating losses in 2021 to over $7 billion.
ByteDance was cofounded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming, who was China's second richest billionaire as of November 10, 2022, with a net worth of $49.5 billion. Zhang owns nearly 22% stake of ByteDance. He decided to step down as the company's CEO in 2021, handing over the position to the company's cofounder and HR head Liang Rubo who is also a billionaire with a net worth of $2.3 billion as of November 10, 2022.
2. SpaceX
Valuation: $127 billion Country: U.S.
Denne historien er fra December 2022-utgaven av Forbes Middle East - English.
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Denne historien er fra December 2022-utgaven av Forbes Middle East - English.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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CONSCIOUS INVESTING
VentureSouq's cofounders and general partners, Suneel Gokhale, Sonia Gokhale, Tammer Qaddumi, and Sonia Weymuller, are actively reshaping the investment landscape. With $250 million in assets under management, the thematic fund manager is forging a distinct path, with a focus on fintech and climate tech.
VENTURING BEYOND CAPITAL
In just seven years, Shane Shin and Mahmoud Adi, Founding Partners of Shoroog Partners, have turned their startup into one of the Middle East’s biggest startup investors, with 500 million in assets under management. With ambitions far beyond venture capital, they’re now expanding further into credit markets and looking at where they can be pioneers.
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This year has been pivotal for MENA, marked by a series of high-profile IPOs that drew interest from local and international investors. Here’s a look at the five biggest IPOs that defined 2024.
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MENA has emerged as a vibrant hub for innovation and entrepreneurship, fostering a dynamic landscape for startups.
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A Look Ahead: Travel Trends Shaping 2025
What will drive wanderlust in 2025? Here’s a look at the key travel trends set to dominate the year.
Codebreakers
Backed by 200 million in funding, 28-year-old SCOTT WU and his team of competitive coders at Cognition are building an Al tool that can program entirely on its own, potentially disintegrating the whole industry. Is its 2 billion valuation the result of a true breakthrough, or just more Al hype?
