How tech valuations are shaping up in 2022, in 3 charts

Even if the median valuation is on the decline, let’s not forget we’re coming off an unprecedented year for venture capital: Record funding. Record IPOs. Record valuations. Record innovation?—er…That one is debatable.

But the fact of the matter is: Most tech company valuations are still ridiculously elevated compared to 2020 levels. CB Insights published new second quarter valuation data yesterday, showcasing that—even in Series E rounds and beyond—valuations for tech startups are 35% higher than they were in 2020. For Series C and D rounds, they’re more than 100% higher. 

These numbers indicate some resiliency in the private markets—at least for now, anyway. Part of that is because we are not seeing a whole lot of down rounds just yet. (There have been about 81 to be exact, per PitchBook data from the beginning of this month.) 

“Companies are growing into the high expectations that their valuations created in 2020 and 2021,” says Dave Munichiello, general partner at Alphabet’s early-stage venture firm GV. He tells me that many companies his fund has looked at or invested in this year are doing flat rounds at last year’s prices. While there are some companies shopping around at lower valuations, “the best companies are not yet doing down rounds.” 

Here’s what we are seeing: Investors getting better negotiating power. Later-stage investors are increasingly negotiating priority in payouts during an exit, which you’ll see in the data below.

It’s likely that a few major shifts in the market are still playing out, including the impact of rising interest rates, poor public market performance (especially for unprofitable companies), investors gaining the upper hand on term sheets, etc. 

But as for now, most tech companies are still notching higher valuations than they were two years ago, according to CB Insights. Here’s three things the data is telling us:

Still accepting your 2022 thoughts… As you may recall, I published a collection of comments from Term Sheet readers on how you were thinking about the downturn. Three months later, I’m curious if anything has changed. Has there been a permanent shift in the private markets? Are we better off? How bad could things get? What’s the upside? Whether you’re a startup founder, a venture capitalist, a private equity investor, a banker, a limited partner, or simply someone who likes to read this newsletter, I’d like to hear from you. Send your thoughts to my email below, and thanks for sharing the wisdom.

See you tomorrow, 

Jessica Mathews
Twitter: @jessicakmathews
Email: [email protected]
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Jackson Fordyce curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.

VENTURE DEALS

- Happy Health, an Austin-based tech wearable company focused on stress and mood, raised $60 million in Series A funding led by ARCH Venture Partners.

- Zilliz, a San Francisco-based vector database company, raised $60 million in Series B extension. Prosperity7 Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Pavilion Capital, Hillhouse Capital, 5Y Capital, and Yunqi Capital. 

- Goldcast, a Boston-based event marketing platform, raised $28 million in Series A funding. WestBridge Capital led the round and was joined by Unusual Ventures. 

- Lily AI, a Mountain View, Calif.-based product attributes platform for e-commerce, raised $25 million in Series B funding. Canaan Partners, Conductive Ventures, Sorenson Ventures, NEA, and others invested in the round. 

- SaNOtize Research & Development Corp., a Vancouver-based anti-infective focused therapeutics company, raised $24 million in Series B funding. Horizons Ventures and OurCrowd led the round and were joined by Agricultural Bank of China International. 

- Thirdweb, a New York and San Francisco-based Web3 project building platform, raised $24 million in Series A funding. Haun Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Coinbase Ventures, Shopify, Protocol Labs, Polygon, Shrug VC, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner and NBA Golden State Warriors owner Joseph Lacob, and others. 

- Nitra, a New York-based financial products, medical software, and supply chain solutions provider to practitioners and physicians in the healthcare industry, raised $16 million in funding. Andreessen Horowitz, New Enterprise Associates, Pantera Capital, KB Financial Group, Jerry Yang/AME Cloud Ventures, Dreamers VC, and others invested in the round. 

- Fair Square Medicare, a San Diego-based concierge health care platform for seniors, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Define Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Slow Ventures, YCombinator, and other angels. 

- EeroQ, a Chicago-based quantum computer chip design company, raised $7.25 million in seed funding. B Capital’s Ascent Fund led the round and was joined by investors including V Capital, Calibrate Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Unbound Ventures, and Red Cedar Ventures.

- Latú Seguros, a São Paulo-based insurtech for Latin American businesses, raised $6.7 million in pre-seed funding. CRV and Monashees the round and were joined by investors including ONEVC, Latitude, and SVAngel. 

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Aurora Capital Partners acquired Sharps Compliance, a Houston-based waste management solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

- Harrington, backed by Nautic, acquired Crist Group, a Woodland, Calif.-based specialty fabricator. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- New England Electrical, a portfolio company of Pfingsten, acquired Atlas Innovative, a Pembroke, Mass.-based maintenance, repair, and upgrade services provider to telecommunications infrastructure. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

- ​​New State Capital Partners acquired AFIMAC Global, a Strongsville, Ohio-based business continuity solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- ProPharma, backed by Odyssey, acquired OSR, a McKinney, Texas-based medical regulatory company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EXITS

- Medallia acquired Mindful, an Akron, Ohio-based callback automation company, from Alpine Investors. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

OTHER

- Carbon acquired ParaMatters, a Redwood City, Calif.-based software provider for additive manufacturing. Financial terms were not disclosed.