The new use of unicorn in reference to highly successful start-ups is the coinage of US venture capital investor Aileen Lee. The mythical creature was chosen as a metaphor because of it being something rare and a little bit magical – even just a few years ago, the concept of a fledgling business achieving this level of financial success would have been considered extremely unusual, if not impossible.

The new use of unicorn in reference to highly successful start-ups is the coinage of US venture capital investor Aileen Lee. The mythical creature was chosen as a metaphor because of it being something rare and a little bit magical – even just a few years ago, the concept of a fledgling business achieving this level of financial success would have been considered extremely unusual, if not impossible.