Pinduoduo, an emerging Chinese e-commerce start-up, has already become a leading unicorn enterprise at less than three years old, valued at $15 billion after attracting $3 billion during a recent round of financing, People’s Daily reported on Monday.

In June 2017, the U.S. and China ranked first and second as nations with the largest number of unicorn enterprises, the name given to startup companies valued at over $1 billion within 10 years of establishment. The two countries accounted for 42.1 percent and 38.9 percent of unicorn enterprises respectively, according to last year’s China-US Unicorn Research Report released by Deloitte.

According to the report, China's Ant Financial, Didi Chuxing, Xiaomi, Lufax and Meituan-Dianping are among the world’s top ten super unicorns, all reaching a value of over $10 billion. E-commerce, finance, culture and entertainment industries have cultivated almost half of the country's unicorn enterprises.

Chinese unicorns are embracing a vast and rapid growth, said Victor Wang, co-founder of ZhenFund, a Beijing-based seed fund promoting innovation among youth in China. More importantly, some of them have already reached a world-leading level, he added.

Unicorn enterprises give an overall lift to the nation’s innovation capability and help build a sound atmosphere for development, said Dai Kun, founder of UXIN Group, a China-based online used-car company.

Wu Zuoyi, CEO of SK Group Region China, added that China’s economy has switched to high-quality development since the reform and opening up started four decades ago.

The current era has seen huge advancements in science and technology, including innovation in industries such as materials, medical science and information technology, thus requiring various enterprises with new technologies, new industries and new business modes to cater to the growing demands of the market, noted Wu.

It's expected that there will be an increasing number of influential unicorns, and China will occupy a larger percentage in the near future, said Wang Dong, founder of Zhaogang.com, a unicorn company that offers B2B e-commerce services for steel exchange.

Most of the current unicorns in China were established between 2011 and 2012, and grew quickly over 2013 and 2014 during the country’s economic structural adjustment.

China’s economy started to gear up from 2012, transforming from an investment-driven to innovation-driven mode, said Wang, adding that this new norm in China provides opportunities for startup companies and venture capitals.

Many experts and entrepreneurs hold the same view that China has seen a boom of unicorn companies, but the size is still not large enough. Together, China's unicorns totaled between two and three trillion RMB, but they contribute to a very small share of the overall economy, said Wu.

Unicorn companies are favored by capitals, which indicates the rarity of such enterprises, Wu added.