BEIJING, April 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 9, the Hurun Research Institute released the Global Unicorn Index 2024 in Guangzhou, a ranking of the world's start-ups founded in the 2000s, worth at least a billion dollars and not yet listed on a public exchange.

NewLink, with its successful digital practices in energy digitalization, EV charging services, and transport energy transformation, once again made the list, enjoying the title of "Hurun Global Unicorn" for the fifth consecutive year. The list also includes companies such as ByteDance, SpaceX, and OpenAI.

The Hurun Research Institute has been tracking unicorn companies since 2017, and this is the sixth time it has announced the Global Unicorn Index. The list shows that as of January 1, 2024, there are a total of 1,453 unicorn companies in 291 cities and 53 countries worldwide, with a total value of USD 4.6 trillion. Over the past year, a third of all global unicorn companies were in the sectors of fintech, software services, and AI. China, with 340 unicorn companies, ranked second globally, just behind the United States. China is home to a quarter of the world's unicorn companies. Those companies were mainly specialized in AI, semiconductor, and new energy.

Rupert Hoogewerf, Chairman and Chief Research Officer of the Hurun Report, said that over the past year, a new unicorn company was born every two days globally, with the total number growing to three times that of five years ago. In 2024, AI replaced e-commerce to become one of the top three popular industries. In China, the fields in which unicorn companies are specialized have shown different distribution characteristics from previous years. In 2024, a number of start-ups in the new energy industry appeared on the list, involving various sectors such as PV, energy storage, energy digitalization, EVs, and charging services.

As an IoT solution provider and a digital energy asset operator, NewLink, founded in 2016, spurs the development of full-chain energy conservation and carbon emission reduction to contribute to global carbon neutrality by leveraging digital technologies. Currently, NewLink enjoys an annual GMV of over RMB 100 billion, accounting for about 3% of China's energy retail market. Its business focuses on two scenarios: gas stations and charging stations, providing energy digitalization, asset management for gas and charging stations, and supply chain services for the upstream and downstream industries. Through its innovative business model of NewLink as a Service, NewLink has connected thousands of gas stations and 876,000 chargers. It has packaged refueling and charging services into the vehicles of 80% of OEMs in China to build the fuel and electricity integrated digital network.

NaaS (NASDAQ:NAAS), as a global operator of new energy assets, delivers one-stop services from site selection consulting to software/hardware procurement, EPC, operation and maintenance, energy storage and PV, for charging pile manufacturers, charging station operators and OEMs in the whole new energy industry chain, with a view to engaging EV owners in better charging experience and streamlining operation of all industry chain players.

Digital technology has become an important engine for promoting high-quality industrial development, and the transport energy industry is enjoying the engine first. In 2023, NaaS, boasting its own connection and operation capabilities, launched the NEF (NaaS Energy Fintech) system and integrated the system with user-side distributed resources such as EVs, public charging piles, and integrated PV-storage-charging stations. The system can intelligently optimize the operation, trading, and coordination regarding the transport energy. Based on the AI model, the system can provide services such as intelligent site selection, assessment, scheduling, operation, and maintenance for charging stations, thus helping government agencies and station investors scientifically plan and arrange charging infrastructures and improve operation efficiency.

NewLink has been included in the "Global Unicorn Index" for five consecutive years and has repeatedly ranked among the "Top 500 Global Unicorn Companies" and "Top 500 Global New Energy Companies". Prior to this, NewLink has completed multiple rounds of financing, with shareholders including Bain Capital, Joy Capital, CICC Capital, CR Capital MGMT, and China Merchants Capital.

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