The Takeaway
The Morningstar PitchBook Global Unicorn Index gained 42.7% in the second quarter, but 26.4 percentage points came from the repricing of companies that went public during the quarter. Excluding those events, the index returned 16.3%, compared with 14.9% for the Morningstar Global Target Market Exposure Index.
AI companies represent 40.3% of unicorns but 61.7% of aggregate value. AI unicorn valuations increased by $1.59 trillion in the first half of the year, and AI companies accounted for 109 of the 178 companies that became unicorns during the period.
SpaceX accounted for 94.9% of the second quarter’s $1.78 trillion exit value, but excluding SpaceX, 20 unicorn exits generated $90.4 billion, the strongest quarterly total since the fourth quarter of 2021. Across the first half of 2026, exit activity excluding SpaceX’s IPO and its acquisition of xAI annualizes to roughly 1.7 times 2025 levels.
The second quarter underscored how a handful of repricing events and large companies can shape the unicorn market. High-profile public listings drove much of the strongest quarterly gain in more than a decade, while fundraising remained heavily concentrated among a small number of large companies, particularly in AI. Secondary markets also became a more important reference point for private company valuations, and stronger midmarket exits and strategic acquisitions pointed to expanding avenues for liquidity, even as activity remained narrow.
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