There’s been a lot of chatter about the burgeoning number of unicorns out there. In fact, unicorns are giving way to what Re/Code calls “decacorns” –startups valued at more than $10 billion.
Well, now venture capitalists are creating lists out there predicting the death of many of these unicorns, Fortune is reporting. Who is on the list? Mum’s the word. CB Insights has a list of dying startups — but it will cost you $6,895 to access it. A bargain basement price for a list that could save you millions.
Is a bubble about to burst? VC par excellence Marc Andreessen declared last year that many startups will “vaporize.”
Some might argue there was never a bubble — just a pretty good illusion of one. Those billion-dollar valuations? They may have been real for only a handful of investors who were promised that they would be first in line when a company went public or got sold: If the benighted unicorn sold for less than $1 billion, the VC would still get paid as if it had sold for $1 billion.
Now that’s what I call magic.
According to a survey of 37 deals by Silicon Valley law firm Fenwick and West, if the company does even better than expected? You guessed it. The benighted investors get a larger share of the profit.
Fortune keeps a list of unicorns. You can find it here. Any on it that you think deserve to be on the deathwatch?
Photo: yosuke muroya