Redpoint’s Post

441 unicorns are stuck in “Zombieland.” The exit landscape for venture-backed startups has shifted - here’s what the numbers say. At our annual meeting, we shared a deep dive on today’s exit environment, including the data behind how startups are approaching liquidity via IPOs, M&A, secondaries, and buybacks in today’s market. Some key take-aways: 📉 The bar to go public remains extremely high: The companies that have made it to the public markets recently are all highly scaled—most were generating over $500M in revenue at IPO, growing 20%+ annually, and were either profitable or close to breakeven at worst. 💸 M&A volume is coming back, and deal structures are evolving in creative ways: Some recent deals have taken an unusual shape—big tech players like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have been effectively licensing startup-built AI tech and poaching founding teams to lead internal R&D. With the surge of well-funded AI startups over the past two years, we’re likely to see more exits take this form. 🧟♂️ A significant number of unicorns are stuck in “Zombieland:” Only 28% of 2021 unicorns have either exited or raised an up round. While some haven’t needed to raise more capital, most of the remaining companies aren’t on track for an IPO—and many, sadly, lack a clear path to an exit. ⬇️ How does this line up with what you’re seeing? 👉 Full deep-dive + visuals here: https://lnkd.in/dBBVuKjU