For decades, the unicorn was associated primarily with femininity. The mythical creature which resembles a horse with a long, straight horn on its head, was given form in soft toys, colouring books, inflatable toys, fairytales and movies.
Today, that is no longer the case.
Now, used to define a startup company valued at over $1 billion (R17.7bn), unicorns have little association with femininity.
For the reality is that female founders or directors of unicorn businesses are almost more mythical than unicorns themselves. For every of the 50 male founders or co-founders of a $1bn startup in 2024, there were only seven females.
Traditionally, unicorn status is seen as a token milestone, but it is also an indicator of how many start-ups are successful at scaling. Research indicates that unicorn start-ups account for roughly one in every 10 000 startups that have been funded.
