A startup company with a valuation of over $1 billion. The term unicorn is extensively used in the venture capital industry. Venture capitalist Aileen Lee is credited with coining the term. Due to their rarity, unicorns need tremendous amount of creativity. Due to their enormous size, unicorn investors typically are private investors or venture capitalists, making them unavailable to retail investors. Although it is not required, many unicorns work their way up to being public companies.