When a venture-backed startup goes a few years without raising a new round, it’s common to presume its odds of a sizable exit have gone down as well.
But that’s often not the case, an analysis of Crunchbase data shows. This year, a number of larger acquisitions of private companies involved startups that haven’t disclosed a new investment for more than four years.
Several of these acquisitions are quite recent — and in some cases, quite large. The standout is Uber’s purchase earlier this month of ezCater, a platform for catering and workplace meals, for $2.3 billion in cash. The deal comes nearly five years after Boston-based ezCater raised its last reported venture funding round.
That’s not the only one. A number of companies whose names might feature on a playlist of 2021 boom-era unicorns have sold to acquirers in recent months, including one-time highfliers like Airtable, Headspace and Miro. In many cases, companies are selling at valuations which, while not puny, are still far below their former peaks.
Who’s getting acquired
To illustrate the extent to which these aging startups are finding acquirers, we used Crunchbase data to put together a list of 15 deals involving well-funded companies that haven’t raised equity funding for four or more years.
Post-peak runway
One big issue for older and middle-aged startups is that valuations hit a cyclical peak in 2021 and early 2022. Many companies that raised during that time had difficulty attracting fresh capital or were reluctant to close new rounds at reduced valuations. Even with the more recent AI boom, little went to this cohort.
Moreover, since the 2021 boom-era rounds were quite large, funded startups commonly had the option to cut operating costs and extend their runways with existing capital. As a result, quite a few companies that haven’t raised rounds in years are still chugging along, managing to survive and even grow without more venture funding.
EzCater is a case in point. In the year prior to its acquisition, the business generated more than $2.5 billion in gross bookings. It had an annual growth rate in the high teens, with average order sizes over $400.
That said, even that revenue and growth rate didn’t secure ezCater much of an acquisition premium from its last funding round. At $2.3 billion, Uber’s purchase price is 53% above the $1.5 billion pre-money valuation the catering startup secured in its last funding round in late 2021.
Acquisitions below peak venture valuation
In many cases, even good-sized acquisitions of well-funded startups are occurring at valuations far below former peaks.
Take Miro, a provider of online collaboration tools that agreed to sell to Bending Spoons last month in a deal valued around $1.36 billion. That’s a huge step down from early 2022, when San Francisco-based Miro closed its last round at a $17.5 billion post-money valuation.
Or consider Bending Spoons’ prior purchase of data and workflow platform Airtable, for $1.28 billion in August. That’s barely over one-tenth the $11 billion valuation Airtable secured in its December 2021 Series F.
Fashion startup Everlane is another that lost its shimmer after securing a 2020 valuation in the hundreds of millions. It sold to fast-fashion leader Shein this spring for $100 million.
In the health and wellness sector, meanwhile, Headspace also saw its valuation plunge. The meditation and mental health app sold to Sword Health in a deal reportedly valued around $300 million. That’s well below its peak post-money valuation of around $2.6 billion.
A good thing?
While startup investors aren’t celebrating acquisitions made far under peak private valuations, they’re not the worst outcome. And for startups themselves, they’re also far from a catastrophic scenario.
Of course, every unicorn investor hopes for high-multiple returns. But for startups that go years without funding, the market seems to be telling us that’s not likely in the cards.
Related Crunchbase list:
- Acquired Startups That Hadn’t Raised Venture Funding For 4+ Years
- Global M&A In 2026 For Venture-Backed Companies
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Illustration: Dom Guzman