SA国际传媒

Startups raise cash when funding is flush and try to conserve it to power through leaner times. But typically the runway only lasts so long.

If a venture-backed company has gone more than four years between funding rounds, the forecast generally looks dim. It becomes increasingly unlikely that it will secure another good-sized financing or a sizable exit.

Four-year funding gaps are especially top of mind these days, as it鈥檚 been that long since U.S. venture investment hit its all-time peak. During the boom that lasted from 2020 to early 2022, software companies in particular routinely raised megarounds at rich valuations.

That, as we know, resulted in some strong exits, a lot of mediocre outcomes, and quite a lot that haven鈥檛 flourished.

Stranded software unicorns

For many, flush times came to an abrupt end. Per SA国际传媒 data, more than 150 boom-era U.S. software and software-related companies with $100 million or more in equity funding have not raised capital in over four years, remain private and have not been acquired.1

Collectively, they were a well-funded bunch. Companies in the cohort that raised their last round during the peak聽2 pulled in over $51 billion in aggregate funding, per SA国际传媒 data.

The list also contains a number of companies that were fairly high-profile startups several years ago. Examples include:

: The equity and fund management software platform raised close to $1.2 billion in total funding but hasn鈥檛 reported a new round since 2021.

: The NFT marketplace operator raised over $427 million in equity funding but closed its last round just over four years ago.

: The developer of the popular scheduling app secured $350 million in 2021 and hasn鈥檛 raised a round since. Since Calendly was mostly self-funded for its first seven years of existence, however, we鈥檇 guess it鈥檚 not a company that鈥檚 likely to be in financial distress.

Using SA国际传媒 data, we put together a longer sample featuring 10 companies.

Where are they now?

The ranks of companies that haven鈥檛 raised for years include a mix of those that are still active, have shuttered or are quietly winding down. For software startups in particular, many can continue eking along with a skeleton staff and a sparsely supported offering without formally shutting down. Or, they might be doing fine, given the capital they raised at the peak.

Given these are private companies, we can鈥檛 peek under the hood regarding details of their financial condition. All we can say is they haven鈥檛 disclosed a new round for some time.

Related SA国际传媒 query:

Related reading:

• Global Venture Funding And Unicorn Creation In 2021 Shattered All Records聽

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