5 startups broke the $1 billion valuation barrier last quarter, and you've probably never heard of most of them

Burning Man 2015 Unicorn Headdress

While private-market valuations seem to reach new heights every week, the number of new unicorn startups — private companies valued over $1 billion — has actually slowed.

In Goldman Sachs' quarterly Views from the Valley report, published Monday, analyst Heather Bellini wrote that the pace of unicorn additions "continued to be muted" in the third quarter — particularly in comparison to Q2 2017, when 20 startups joined the so-called unicorn club.

Just five tech startups joined the unicorn club in the third quarter, according to the report. That brings the total number of unicorns up to 162 in the third quarter, excluding companies which had unicorn valuations but have since exited through an initial public offering or an acquisition.

Meet the five newest additions:

AppLovin

What it does: AppLovin is a mobile marketing platform founded in Palo Alto, California, in 2012. Under CEO Adam Foroughi, the startup has gained a foothold in the online gaming space by helping game-app designers track analytics and monetize their apps.
What it's worth now: $2 billion
Total funding: $944 million
Who's invested: AppLovin was originally backed by angel investors, including Maynard Webb, of eBay and Yahoo fame. Its latest valuation comes from a $400 million private equity investment from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, better known as KKR.

BenevolentAI

What it does: The London-based BenevolentAI was founded in 2013. The startup uses AI to advance medical research. It's a rising star in the biotech and drug-discovery field.
What it's worth now: $2 billion
Total funding: $203 million
Who's invested: BenevolentAI has been funded by private equity since the beginning. In April, it raised $115 million from investors at Lansdowne Partners, Lundbeck, Nortrust Nominees, Upsher-Smith Laboratories and Woodford Investment Management.

Bird

What it does: Since its founding in 2017, the Santa Monica, California-based Bird has taken over cities with its flocks of app-activated electric scooters, which commuters use to buzz around metropolitan areas.
What it's worth now: $2 billion
Total funding: $415 million
Who's invested: Bird has rapidly found itself infused with cash, thanks to multiple funding rounds in its short lifetime. Its biggest-named investors include Sequoia Capital and Accel. Its most recent $150 million round in June valued the company at $2 billion.

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