But how many funding rounds does it actually take to become a unicorn? Those founded after 2011 have cut that nearly in half, reaching unicorn status in around five years on average. So, How Many Funding Rounds Does It Take? So we know how much time it takes, but how many funding rounds? Well, according to the research, which looked at over 2,000 unicorns, the average number of funding rounds before reaching unicorn status was 5.