TMTPOST -- About half of the world's newly minted unicorns are now related to artificial intelligence, while the average time for a startup to reach a $1 billion valuation has fallen to about three years and two months from roughly six and a half years five years ago, said Stanford University professor Ilya Strebulaev. Strebulaev, the David S. Lobel Professor of Private Equity at Stanford Graduate School of Business and founder and director of the Stanford Venture Capital Initiative, made the remarks at the Silicon Valley VIP Club's 2026 annual forum. Despite the faster pace at which startups are reaching unicorn status, the likelihood that a venture-backed startup will ultimately become a unicorn has declined, he said. Looking ahead, Strebulaev made two predictions. Over the next decade, at least five companies globally will reach a valuation or market capitalization of $5 trillion, he said. Some of those companies may not even have been founded yet. The number of unicorns worldwide could also rise to about 7,000 by 2028 from roughly 4,100 currently, Strebulaev said.