Growth equity fundraising soared to a record $132 billion globally in 2021, but deal momentum fell dramatically in the second half of 2022. The creation rate for unicorns—start-ups with valuation of $1 billion or more in private markets—plunged in 2022 compared with 2021, due to overall market slowdown and reduced fundraising, senior partner Alexander Edlich and colleagues explain.
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A bar graph shows the monthly number of unicorns created for the years 2020 through 2022. “Unicorn” refers to a privately held start-up company with a value of over $1 billion. The graph shows a steady climb from mid-2020 at about 15 per month to a peak in late 2021 of about 60 per month, before collapsing back to below 10 per month at the end of 2022.
Source: PitchBook Unicorn Companies Tracker
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To read the article, see “A winning strategy for growth investors at a time of uncertainty,” April 4, 2023.