SoftBank is worried. Earlier this month, SoftBank founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son said unicorn founders are refusing to accept lower valuations in fresh funding rounds. As a result, “startup winter” — or the funding crunch startups are currently facing in the venture capital world — is likely to continue.
There’s more than a little irony in this situation. SoftBank is known for pioneering a funding practice of writing massive checks for startups raising at very high valuations. And now the company is calling for startups to accept lower valuations?
In this episode of Angel Insider, Vin Narayanan, Andy Gordon and Allison Brickell discuss the state of the venture capital market and explore SoftBank’s role in it — including whether or not Andy’s strong criticisms of SoftBank are warranted. (He’s not a big fan of the firm’s approach.)
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