Over the weekend I published a post on the proliferation of “unicorns”, AKA startup companies that carry at least a $1 billion valuation by venture capitalists.  I threw out the idea of a “hectocorn”, or a startup with a $100 billion valuation…and while a single company carrying that price-tag has yet to appear, a Feb 13th TechCrunch article calculates the aggregate value of mobile unicorns at over $261 billion.

Sixty-eight companies.  Sixteen mobile internet sectors.  A quarter of a trillion dollars in value.  According to the International Monetary Fund’s 2013 numbers, that’s higher than the GDP of 142 of the world’s countries, or 72%.  With a 2017 mobile internet revenue forecast of $700 billion, it would appear mobile unicorns are set to become even less rare.