Archive: startup valuations
Angel Insider: SoftBank Warns Investors About Startup Winter
By Early Investing on August 23, 2022
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…
Startup Insider: What Instacart’s Valuation Trim Means for the Startup Market
By Early Investing on April 11, 2022
Instacart got a haircut. The company sliced its valuation by nearly 40% from $39 billion to $24 billion — despite the fact that it saw 30% year-over-year growth last year. And Instacart is not the only high-tech company trimming its valuation. So what’s going on?…
Startup Price Inflation Signals Danger for Investors
By Andy Gordon on March 30, 2022
Price inflation in the startup world is running rampant. This isn’t new. But I do wonder when it’s going to peak. We’re not there yet. If anything, it’s getting worse. I’ll give you a recent example. I was talking to a founder yesterday who…
Lower Startup Valuations Are on the Horizon
By Vin Narayanan on February 1, 2022
Last week I wrote about how some of the country’s biggest asset managers are investing in startups because they simply can’t find a better alternative (and they really want one!). As a result, they’re all trying to identify and invest in the best…
Startup Valuations Remain High, But There Are Exceptions
By Adam Sharp on January 18, 2022
I had hoped that the dramatic startup valuation increases in seed and Series A rounds would start slowing late last year. Unfortunately I haven’t seen much evidence of that so far. I’d guess that seed stage startup valuations are still up around 2.5x since I started…
Top 10 Startup Valuations Both Online and Offline
By KingsCrowd on December 1, 2021
Note: Determining startup valuations is more of an art than a science. Lately, we’ve written about how startup valuations are reaching eye-popping highs. But how do online startup valuations and offline startup valuations compare? That’s the question that our friends at KingsCrowd address…
Startup Investing in 2014 vs. Startup Investing in 2021
By Adam Sharp on September 21, 2021
When I first started investing in startups in the summer of 2014, seed-stage deals were typically valued between $4 million and $5 million. I remember seeing a few deals at $1 million and a few more at $2 million and $3 million. Today I’d estimate the…
Alternative Investments to Consider
By Adam Sharp on July 20, 2021
Last week in Early Investing, I wrote a piece about how startup valuations are getting a little crazy. As I’ve discussed here recently, these rising prices have caused me to cut back…
Startup Valuations Aren’t Changing Anytime Soon
By Adam Sharp on June 22, 2021
Lately, I’ve written a lot about how expensive startup valuations have become. It’s gotten pretty silly in some cases. Now I’m wondering: Are they going to get cheaper anytime soon? Based on what I’m seeing, I’m leaning towards no.
A Simple Way to Assess Startup Risk
By Andy Gordon on February 21, 2018
The Berkus Method, a four-factor valuation formula, gives you a nice framework to assess investment opportunities in terms of current risk and chances of future success.