Where did all those unicorn startups we minted in the boom times go?
Well nearly 2/3rds are simply in limbo.
Took a look at the 616 US unicorns on Carta that raised on $1 billion+ valuations before the end of 2021. So this analysis doesn't include any of the recently created unicorns from the AI wave.
𝗔𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗝𝗮𝗻 𝟭, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱
374 of the original 616 pool had not raised any subsequent rounds.
83 have raised a flat or up round (13.5%).
67 have raised a down round (10.9%, but nearly half of those that have raised anything).
78 have exited through IPO or M&A (12.7%).
14 have shut down (2.3%, may be a little undercount).
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘂𝘀?
There are many ZIRP-era unicorns that have yet to be revalued. Now perhaps they've grown into their prior valuations in the intervening years, but the level of down rounds suggests that won't be true for most.
More down rounds coming in this cohort? Probably.
But the potential IPO pool today likely does not contain as many of these companies as we once thought.
The venture journey is no joke!
#startups #founders #unicorns #ZIRP
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