YC issues warning to startups, lofty IPOs come crashing down, mega VC rounds trend lower, and more - May 20, 2022

May 20, 2022 [Europe’s loftiest 2021 IPOs have fallen far]( When the IPO window was wide open last year, venture-backed companies in Europe and the U.K. used the opportunity to launch a spree of big public offerings. At least 15 made market debuts with initial public valuations of over $1 billion and as much as $11 billion. Now, the overwhelming majority of these deals are trading far below their initial offer prices. A sample of the largest have collectively seen market capitalizations fall by more than 55 percent. [YC warns startups of economic downturn: ‘plan for the worst’]( Startup accelerator Y Combinator yesterday warned the good times may be coming to an end for startups and the venture market. “No one can predict how bad the economy will get, but things don’t look good,” it wrote in a letter to its portfolio companies that also offered advice to startup founders on how best to weather the market. [U.S. venture rounds of $100M-plus trend lower]( Venture rounds of $100 million and up are still closing at a steady clip. However, deal counts and funding totals have been trending lower over the course of this year. Those are the broad findings from a Crunchbase analysis of big U.S. venture rounds this year and last. [Meet the 9 newcomers to join The Emerging Unicorn Board in April]( Last month, nine companies joined [The Crunchbase Emerging Unicorn Board]( a curated list of global private companies on the path to achieving unicorn status. The board currently lists 305 companies, each with a disclosed valuation of $500 million or above, but less than $1 billion. We break down the newcomers by industry. [Stanford, Harvard, MIT still lead as educators of funded founders]( Does a prestigious degree really give you a leg up on the competition? While Crunchbase data can’t answer this specific question, it does offer some insights into how a degree from a particular institution correlates with one’s likelihood of becoming a funded founder. It turns out, your likelihood of raising funds for a startup has a pretty strong correlation with where you attended school. [Professional networking startups help remote workers ‘find their tribe’]( We talk with professional networking startups that have gained attention, and funding, during a time when employees are increasingly scattered. Overall, VC-backed companies in the professional networking space raised more than $308 million in 2021—nearly triple the amount raised in 2020, Crunchbase data shows. [Lucid Motors to open factory in Saudi Arabia]( Lucid Motors, the Tesla challenger that went public through a SPAC deal last year, picked Saudi Arabia for its first overseas factory. [The Lead List: 13 hot companies to sell to in May]( Imagine how much your deal size could grow if you sold into startups like Rivian or Snowflake before they became multibillion-dollar companies with splashy, lucrative IPOs. In the first edition of our new monthly series The Lead List, we analyze key buy signals from up-and-coming companies that are ripe for sales outreach. [Crunchbase ROI Calculator]( [See the number of new accounts Crunchbase can add to your funnel with our advanced prospecting ROI calculator powered by Crunchbase data.]( [Calculate]( Crunchbase Pro: Searches and Lists Name Type Entries [Autonomous vehicle companies with $10M+ funding]( Companies 198 [Investments led by GV]( Funding Rounds 233 [Investments in big data and analytics companies in the last year]( Funding Rounds 5390 [More Featured Searches and Lists]( [Check out our Crunchbase solutions here]( – prospecting tools made for everyone Recent Investments [Velocity Global]( [$400M]( / [Series B]( Velocity Global offers a global employment solution that simplifies how companies onboard, manage, and pay talent. Categories: Employment • Human Resources • Information Technology • Productivity Tools • Recruiting Founders: [Ben Wright]( Investors: [Eldridge]( (Lead), [Norwest Venture Partners]( (Lead) [SpotOn]( [$300M]( / [Series F]( SpotOn provides mobile payment technology and a management system for restaurants and small businesses. Categories: Mobile Payments • Payments • Sales Automation • Software Founders: [Doron Friedman]( [Matt Hyman]( [Zach Hyman]( Investors: [Dragoneer Investment Group]( (Lead), [Andreessen Horowitz]( [DST Global]( [+ 3 more]( [Xendit]( [$300M]( / [Series D]( Xendit is a fintech company that provides end-to-end digital payment solutions for SMBs, e-commerce startups, and large enterprises. Categories: Finance • Financial Services • FinTech • Payments • Small and Medium Businesses Founders: [Bo Chen]( [Juan Gonzalez]( [Moses Lo]( [Tessa Wijaya]( Investors: [Coatue]( (Lead), [Insight Partners]( (Lead), [Accel]( [+ 6 more]( More Fundings Company Amount / Round Lead Investor [MarketFinance]( 100M GBP / [Debt Financing]( [Deutsche Bank]( [Modulr]( 83M GBP / [Series C]( [General Atlantic]( [WOW Skin Science]( $75M / [Private Equity Round]( [GIC]( [Ascend Wellness]( $36M / [Post-IPO Debt]( - [Coins.ph]( $30M / [Series C]( [Ribbit Capital]( [Space Perspective]( $17M / [Debt Financing]( - [Gopuff]( Unknown / [Funding Round]( [Robert Iger]( [All Recent Funding Activity]( Recent Acquisitions [Homeserve]( Pending acquisition by [Brookfield Asset Management]( for 4.1B GBP More Acquisitions Company Acquired By Amount [OpenQ]( [PhonePe]( $25M [All Recent Acquisition Activity]( Upcoming Tech Events [Pepperdine Most Fundable Companies 2022]( May 27 - 27, 2022 in Malibu Pepperdine Most Fundable Companies is an annual competition that provides participants a national recognition. 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