It's easy for investors to take big bets on companies like Google and Facebook. It's much more challenging to find the fledgling startup that is set to become the next industry titan. For decades, hedge funds have dominated public markets, through activists demanding major changes at blue-chip stocks or quants supercharging the speed of trading. Now managers are turning toward private markets, investing billions into top startups. The patience of many of the hottest companies in the world pulled the industry in. In 2020, 20 unicorns went public, including Airbnb and Palantir.