See Berliinist pärit radarifirma on 2023. aastal seni kõige aktiivsem investor uutesse ükssarvikutesse

Editor’s note: Data is from Crunchbase Unicorn Board, a curated list that includes private unicorn companies with post-money valuations of $1 billion or more, based on disclosed fundings in Crunchbase. 

When you consider the investors putting money into new unicorn startups, maybe you think of storied Silicon Valley names like Sequoia pealinn ja Väiksemad Perkinsid, or large New York firms like TiigerGlobal ja Insight Partnerid that in recent years have dominated startup investment.

But in another sign of how much the market tides have shifted, the top investor leading rounds for new unicorn startups so far this year is none of those. Instead, it’s a relatively small, under-the-radar investor based in Berlin.

Varajase faasi investeerimisühing b2venture was the most active investor in new unicorn startups in the first half of 2023, Crunchbase data shows. The firm participated in nine funding rounds across three new unicorn startups — a significant portion of the only 44 total new unicorns minted in H1 2023.

B2venture is followed by multistage venture firms Index Ventures, Google Ventures ja Andreessen Horowitz — all tied for the rank of second-most active, with eight investments each in the new unicorns that joined Crunchbase Unicorn Board 2023. aasta esimesel poolel.

This lineup looks very different from the firms that amassed a huge portfolio of unicorn companies in the last few years — namely Tiger Global, Accel, Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia.

Of these four firms, Andreessen Horowitz still made the leading H1 2023 list, with three portfolio companies and eight investments in this batch.

B2venture also stands out on this list for investing in all three of the newly anointed unicorns from Germany so far this year. It has also been a consistent investor in these new unicorn companies. The firm started investing as early as 2009 and continued into 2023 in translation company deepl, fintech Rosin and sustainable energy company 1 punkt 5°, with initial investment at seed or Series A and participation in follow-on funding rounds.

Alla 80%

New unicorn counts fell 80% year over year in the first half of 2023, with just 44 companies earning that title — a far cry from the 251 companies that joined the Unicorn Board in H1 2022 and the 295 in H1 2021. The decline in new unicorns underscores the precipitous decline in late-stage financings viimase 12 kuu jooksul.

The U.S. remains the largest market for new unicorns. Of this year’s new unicorn companies, half are headquartered in the U.S., a quarter are in China, and six are based in Europe.

The AI moment

For the new batch of unicorns the leading sector was — no surprise — AI. Companies in the sector make up 25% of new unicorns this year.

Corporate investors have been actively investing in AI. Nvidia and its venture arm Ettevõtmised combined have participated in five investments in newly minted AI unicorn companies this year. Another corporate investor, Salesforce Ventures 1, participated in funding three of these AI unicorn companies in 2023.

Consistent investors

Other consistent investors include Index Ventures in Sidus and Raisin; Google Ventures in Lahke keha ja Kirjatüüp; Andreessen in KoBold Metal ja Korda; A.CapitalVentures in Iseloom.ai; Kate in Meie järgmine energia; MMC ettevõtmised in Sünteesia, Vabade fond in Bluepha; Aqua Spark in eFishery; AlbionVC ja HSBC in QuantexaNing Valor Equity Partners ja S3 ettevõtmised in Atmosfäär.

These investors stand to gain the most from potential future exits as they continue to invest to maintain their equity stakes in some of their most highly valued companies.

Suured panused

Despite their more recent pullback in unicorn investing, lead investors who have built a large portfolio of highly valued private companies won’t lose their perch as the most active investors anytime soon. Consider that Tiger Global still has the highest count of current unicorn portfolio companies with more than 220 (though it’s reportedly working to offload some of its stakes.)

While Tiger Global has a much larger unicorn count in highly valued private companies when compared to other leading investors, those firms still have massive unicorn portfolios of their own. Andreessen Horowitz, for example, has 108 unicorn portfolio companies, per Crunchbase. Insight Partners has 107. And Sequoia Capital and Accel each have around 100 current unicorn portfolio companies.

These companies’ rankings likely will not shift anytime soon, as a smaller number of new unicorns join the herd in the current market. But each of these firms still has a lot of value tied up in private markets — and each is no doubt eagerly waiting for the IPO market to open once again.

Seotud Crunchbase'i ükssarviku päringud

Metoodika

Crunchbase Unicorn Board on Crunchbase'i andmetel põhinev kureeritud nimekiri, mis sisaldab eraettevõtteid, mille raha järelhindlus on 1 miljard dollarit või rohkem. Uued ettevõtted on lisati ükssarviku juhatusse kui nad jõuavad rahastamisvooru osana 1 miljardi dollari väärtuseni.

Ükssarviku juhatus ei kajasta ettevõttesiseseid hinnanguid – näiteks neid, mis määratakse töötajate aktsiaoptsioonide 409a protsessi kaudu –, kuna need erinevad hinnaga rahastamisvoorust ja on tõenäolisemalt madalamad. Samuti ei korrigeeri me hinnanguid investorite allahindluste põhjal, mis muutuvad kord kvartalis, kuna erinevad investorid ei väärtusta sama ettevõtet järjepidevalt sama kvartali jooksul.

Ükssarvikuettevõtete rahastamine hõlmab kõiki erafinantseerimisi ettevõtetele, mis on märgistatud ükssarvikutena, samuti ettevõtetele, mis on sellest ajast alates lõpetanud Lahkunud ükssarviku juhatus.

Pange tähele, et kõik rahastamisväärtused on esitatud USA dollarites, kui pole märgitud teisiti. Crunchbase konverteerib välisvaluutad USA dollariteks kehtiva hetkekursi alusel alates rahastamisvoorude, omandamiste, IPOde ja muude finantssündmuste kajastamise kuupäevast. Isegi kui need sündmused lisati Crunchbase'i kaua pärast sündmuse väljakuulutamist, konverteeritakse välisvaluutatehingud ajaloolise hetkehinnaga.

Illustratsioon: Dom Guzman