Last week, Intelligize published The Unicorn IPO Report, which analyzes IPOs from 2016 through 2018. In 2016, the report notes that the AppDynamics IPO was days away from completion prior to its acquisition by Cisco for $3.7 billion. There were 13 unicorn IPOs in 2017 and 20 in 2018. Despite the increase in number
Unicorns
Fintech Trends to Watch
By Anna T. Pinedo on
CBInsights recently held a webcast that offered a recap of 2018 events affecting the fintech sector. Global fintech investment reached a record at $39 billion in 2018. Venture-backed fintech deals declined in the fourth quarter of 2018 but remain high compared to historic levels. Early stage fintech deal share declined compared to 2017. There are…
Venture Capital Valuations
By Anna T. Pinedo on
Posted in Unicorns, Venture Capital
In “Squaring Venture Capital Valuations with Reality,” authors Will Gornall and Ilya Strebulaev developed a valuation model for venture capital-backed companies that relies on terms of financing rounds that were gleaned from public filings. Using these reported valuations, the authors then calculate values for all share classes for each of the 135 US unicorns in…
PWC CB Insights MoneyTree Report on Venture Investments
By Anna T. Pinedo on
The recently published MoneyTree Report provides an overview of venture capital investment trends. In 2018, VC-backed companies raised $99.5 billion, an increase in annual funding of 30%, despite a decline in the number of deals. In 2018, the number of early-stage deals declined, but the number of later-stage deals increased. There were 184 “mega-rounds” completed…
Tech IPO Pipeline Report
By Anna T. Pinedo & Carlos Juarez on
CB Insights recently published its seventh annual Tech IPO Pipeline Report. The report notes that in 2013, the median time between first funding and IPO for U.S. VC-backed tech companies was 6.9 years compared to 10.1 years for tech companies that went public in 2018. As we have noted in previous posts, tech…
Fintech Financing Trends
By Carlos Juarez on
According to a recent research report by CB Insights, in the third-quarter of 2018, there were 375 VC-backed equity financings that raised over $5.64 billion for fintech companies globally. In total, 1,164 fintech financings have been completed in 2018, through October 31, raising over $32.6 billion in offering proceeds. Approximately 40% (462) of these deals…
Unicorn Stock Options and Regulatory Reform
By Anna T. Pinedo on
Posted in Private Companies, Unicorns
In a recent paper titled “Unicorn Stock Options – Golden Goose or Trojan Horse?” Anat Alon-Beck analyzes the issues arising in connection with stock-based compensation awarded to employees of unicorns given the trend toward remaining privately held longer and the deferral of IPOs, which traditionally served as the principal liquidity opportunities for employees.…
On the Rise Again? A Look at Trends in the U.S. IPO Market
By Carlos Juarez on
Since the financial crisis, the IPO market has been somewhat volatile, but in the last few quarters, the market has shown growth. A recent Audit Analytics report notes a number of factors that may contribute to the relatively slow rate of growth of the IPO market, including the abundant availability of private capital (both equity…
Industry Focus: Fintech Financing Trends
By Carlos Juarez on
Fintech companies continue the global trend of companies choosing to remain private longer and raising large amounts of capital through private channels. A recent CB Insights report covered the financing trends of fintech companies for the first half of 2018. As of the date of the report, there were 29 fintech unicorns valued at $84.4…
Hello Private Capital
By Trevor Starer on
On June 12, 2018, Partner Anna Pinedo participated in a panel discussion titled “Hello Private Capital” at the Wall Street Journal’s CFO Network 2018 Annual Meeting in Washington D.C., which focused on the trend of companies toward deferring their IPOs and remaining private, the public policy concerns arising as a result, the effect…