The startup market has reached a point of maturity, with more and more startups seeing their valuations explode thanks to fruitful initial public offerings and acquisitions, according to Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS)' Views from the Valley report, published last week.
Despite a name that indicated uniqueness, quite a few startups are unicorns — private companies valued at $1 billion or more. In recent months, the number of unicorns has nearly tripled, rising from 54 at the beginning of 2017 to 158 in the second quarter of 2018, according to the report.
But as the market gets more mature, the number of new unicorns is decelerating. Between 2014 and 2016, there was an average of 15 to 16 new unicorns each quarter. Now, there is an average of 5 to 6, though Q2 2018 only saw one new unicorn: the gaming communication software company Discord, which was last valued at $1.6 billion.
Meanwhile, more and more of these $1 billion+ companies have seen big exits in the last few months, both through IPO and acquisition.
In Q2 2018, 10 of these unicorn tech startups had major exits. These were the biggest exits, according to Goldman Sachs:
Spotify was worth $29.5 billion when it went public
The Stockholm, Sweden-based music streaming platform Spotify went public in April at a valuation of $29.5 billion — $10 billion more than its last funding round, which valued the company at $19 billion.
DocuSign was valued at $4.5 billion when it went public
When the e-signature and transaction company DocuSign went public in April, it was valued around $4.5 billion, far above its last funding round, which valued it at $3 billion.
Avast Software went public with a valuation around $3.08 billion
When the Czech cybersecurity company Avast Software went public in May, it was valued at around £2.4 billion, or $3.08 billion. Its last funding round valued the company at $1 billion.