China leads the list of the global cheetah index

China and the United States led with 291 and 246 companies respectively, in a global cheetah index, a list of the world's start-ups founded in the 2000s and most likely to become unicorns within five years, according to the Hurun Research Institute.

It was the first time Hurun, a global research, media and investments group, launched the cheetah index on a global level, which found 747 cheetahs in the world, based in 198 cities from 34 countries and regions.

On average, such companies were set up in 2016, not yet listed on a public exchange and most likely to go unicorns with a valuation of $1 billion within five years, according to the institute.

By city, Shanghai is the world's cheetah capital with 64 such companies. Beijing is second ahead of San Francisco and Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province.

Biotech and health technology are the core business for cheetahs, followed by enterprise services, FinTech, and e-commerce. More than half of the Chinese cheetahs were in biotech, Health technology, enterprise services and smart chips, according to the index.

"Cheetahs represent the economy of the future. What they are doing and where they are doing it shows which industries are attracting the top young talent and investment, and which countries and cities have the best startup ecosystems," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report.

The global cheetah index was released on Tuesday in Nansha district of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, which has four companies being included in the index.

"Nansha has issued policies to support innovative enterprises, giving support to emerging industries in terms of technology research and development, industrial agglomeration, application scenarios, and financial support," he said.