Fab is already a "dead unicorn" in most people's eyes. During their Series D in 2013, they had a post-val of 1.17B, only to be acquired earlier this year for 15M.
I think the biggest problem these current VC-backed unicorns will face is when "venture tourism" comes to an end sometime in the future and all this available cash becomes harder and harder to raise as mutual/hedge funds back slowly away from the private markets:
I hear a lot of chatter about how IPO is the new down round in tech, and it seems to make sense to me. I don't foresee the high quantity of venture-backed companies worth over 1BN being able to keep up with such valuations ESPECIALLY if they try and hit the public market anytime soon. I also don't see how they're going to be able to maintain increases in valuations thus making it pretty safe to assume an impending "down round" period for those unable to find sustainable revenue. And lastly, there isn't a huge M&A market for companies with a price tag north of 1BN.
Hey, author here. You're right, there's some question about Fab, and I could have added that to the post.
I tend to believe the later story, which was that they didn't get there, but didn't mind all the press thinking they did and it was just never corrected (i.e. this story(1) in Fortune cites a valuation that happens to be under $900M).
Either way, there's definitely no way to know for sure, and I've seen it left off of plenty of 'unicorn' lists.
Comments
Fab is already a "dead unicorn" in most people's eyes. During their Series D in 2013, they had a post-val of 1.17B, only to be acquired earlier this year for 15M.
I think the biggest problem these current VC-backed unicorns will face is when "venture tourism" comes to an end sometime in the future and all this available cash becomes harder and harder to raise as mutual/hedge funds back slowly away from the private markets:
http://blog.pitchbook.com/if-winter-is-coming-how-well-are-u...
I hear a lot of chatter about how IPO is the new down round in tech, and it seems to make sense to me. I don't foresee the high quantity of venture-backed companies worth over 1BN being able to keep up with such valuations ESPECIALLY if they try and hit the public market anytime soon. I also don't see how they're going to be able to maintain increases in valuations thus making it pretty safe to assume an impending "down round" period for those unable to find sustainable revenue. And lastly, there isn't a huge M&A market for companies with a price tag north of 1BN.
Hey, author here. You're right, there's some question about Fab, and I could have added that to the post.
I tend to believe the later story, which was that they didn't get there, but didn't mind all the press thinking they did and it was just never corrected (i.e. this story(1) in Fortune cites a valuation that happens to be under $900M).
Either way, there's definitely no way to know for sure, and I've seen it left off of plenty of 'unicorn' lists.
(1) http://fortune.com/2015/01/22/fab-billion-dollar-valuation/