Unicorns

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A recent research piece published by UBS Financial Services discusses the significant variations in IPO winners and losers.  The report notes that after five years about 60% of all IPOs had negative returns.  Variation in long-term performance appears to be correlated with specific IPO characteristics.  Companies with revenues in excess of $1 billion and those…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…