China had 131 "unicorns²" by the end of 2016, nearly doubling the figure of the year before, said Zhang Zhihong, director of the Torch High Technology Industry Development Center of the Ministry³ of Science and Technology.

科技部火炬高技术产业开发中心主任张志宏近日表示，截至2016年年末，我国已有131家"独角兽"企业，较上一年增长近一倍。

Unicorn¹ refers to young, unlisted companies valued at $1b or more, based on private funding sources.

独角兽企业指估值不低于10亿美元、获得过私募投资且尚未上市的年轻企业。

China's unicorns are spread over 16 cities, but mostly in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hangzhou. The majority are innovation-driven tech businesses, Zhang said.

张志宏称，我国目前已经有16个城市出现了独角兽企业，但北京、上海、深圳和杭州是其主要集聚区。绝大多数独角兽企业是创新驱动型科技企业。

A report published by the torch center earlier this year said half of China's unicorns are in Beijing's Zhongguancun, home to China's three super-unicorns worth over 10 billion U.S. dollars: Xiaomi, Didi Chuxing, and Meituan.

今年前段时间由火炬中心发布的一项报告指出，中国一半的"独角兽"企业位于北京中关村，在那里有三家市值超过100亿美元的超独角兽企业，分别是小米、滴滴出行和美团。

Zhang said a pro-innovation business environment, conductive policies, and good services are key to the growth of unicorns.

张志宏称，一个支持创新的商业环境、具有引导性的政策和良好的服务，是这些"独角兽"企业壮大的关键。

"Unicorns have become important engine to maintaining medium-high growth and to transforming industry," Zhang said. "Their emergence⁴ is attuned⁵ to the development of the sharing, smart and platform economies."

张志宏表示："独角兽企业已经成为推动经济中高速增长、产业改造的重要引擎。独角兽企业的出现适应了共享经济、分享经济、智能经济和平台经济的发展趋势。"