San Francisco, Aug 14 (IANS): It is now more expensive to become a unicorn in the US than ever before, with the median sum raised prior to the status-conferring round soaring to $126.1 million in the first half of this year, says a report.

Unicorns are start-ups valued at over $1 billion.

The sums raised by companies in the US before becoming a unicorn are approaching all-time highs, said the 2019 PitchBook "Unicorn Report".

In addition to a stable initial round of financing, the median unicorn financing round has held relatively steady for years now, shifting between $130 million and $175 million since 2015.

"We anticipate more unicorns in emerging regions, such as the Asia-Pacific region, but the center of gravity remains mainly in northern California. So, I expect the largest production of unicorns will be located around that center of gravity. Now, however, the method will be different," said Saeed Amidi, CEO and Founder, Plug & Play Tech Center, an early stage investor.

"The next giant tech companies will be a pure disruption of traditional businesses through the application of technology rather than being primarily driven by a new type of technology or market," Amidi added.

At mid-year, there were 187 active unicorns in the US, the research found.

Together they boast an aggregate private valuation of just over $600 billion, said the report.