PitchBook-2023年一季度美国风险投资估值报告（英）-2023.5-25页_5mb

US VC Valuations Q1 2023 Analysis

The Q1 2023 report from PitchBook examines key trends in the US venture capital market. Overall, economic challenges such as a liquidity crunch and reduced investor friendliness impacted valuation across stages. Key findings include:

• Early-stage valuations saw a slight decline due to cautious general partners (GPs) and a high capital-demand-to-supply ratio. Median early-stage pre-money valuation dropped to $38.2 million, reflecting a slower pace of value creation and compressed step-ups.

• Seed-stage valuations continued growth amid market changes, with the median rising to $12.9 million. However, this was influenced by survivorship bias and higher deal selection standards, with median step-ups expanding to 1.86x.

• Angel and seed deals showed increased deal sizes at times, but valuations masked risks, as stronger companies dominated the data. The median angel deal value reached its lowest in a decade.

• Late-stage and venture-growth valuations experienced significant declines. Late-stage median pre-money fell 8.3% to $55.0 million, while venture-growth valuations plummeted 74.6%, dropping below $100 million for the first time in years. This was driven by reduced capital availability, lower deal sizes, and fewer exits, exacerbated by nontraditional investor pullback.

• Nontraditional investors, such as crossover ventures, reduced participation, with CVCs being an exception. Their withdrawal intensified a capital shortage, but they still allowed select startups to secure higher valuations in some cases.

• Liquidity remained tight, with low IPO activity and only eight public listings in Q1, up 42.3% from the previous quarter but still much lower than peak levels. M&A increased slightly for some companies seeking liquidity.

• Deal terms favored investors more than ever, with rising use of downside protections and cumulative dividends, which reached a decade-high at 26.3% of deals. Flat and down rounds also increased, signaling pressure on startups to raise capital at stagnant valuations.

Overall, the market showed resilience in early stages but faced substantial headwinds in later stages, highlighting the need for startups to adapt to cost-cutting measures and alternative financing sources.