Staffing Industry Analysts identified 72 “unicorns” in the workforce solution ecosystem with a combined value of $196.2 billion. The most highly valued unicorn is Deel, a global payroll and compliance platform headquartered in San Francisco.

A unicorn is a privately held startup with a value of more than $1 billion. Former unicorns include companies such as Airbnb, Meta (Facebook) and Google.

SIA’s new report identified unicorns in the “workforce solutions ecosystem,” a term that describes the larger staffing industry and all interconnected businesses. It encompasses organizations that provide services in staffing businesses, process outsourcing, payrolling/compliance, direct work engagement, talent acquisition technology and other workforce solutions.

Unicorns in the workforce solutions ecosystem represent 5% of the global value of unicorns of all types, and 44 of the 72 unicorns identified in SIA’s new report are based in the US.

Workforce solutions ecosystem firms with the largest valuations include:

• Deel, $12.0 billion, payrolling/compliance; US
• Gust, $10.0 billion, payroll and HR tech, US
• Lalamove, $10.0 billion, B2B/B2C work service platform; Hong Kong
• Automation Anywhere, $6.8 billion, robotic processing automation; US
• Scale, $7.3 billion, training and accreditation; US

This report also identifies 296 venture capital firms that have invested in the workforce solutions ecosystem.

The full report lists all 72 unicorns and can be viewed by corporate members of Staffing Industry Analysts. It was written by Brian Wallins, research director; John Nurthen, executive director of global research; and Kevin Chen, research associate.