Not everyone enjoys buying a round. It depends how much money you have on you and how big the round is! It seems that a lot of SVB’s start-up tech clients also had trepidation over the fears of down rounds, preferring instead to opt for debt over equity; and so delay inevitable lower valuations. This helps, to some extent, explain why private market valuations remained relatively strong last year, while public market tech stocks got eviscerated as investors grew concerned over long-term growth and profitability in a rising rate environment. The consequence of SVB’s implosion will be significant, with far less venture debt leading to an inevitable slew of lower valuation down rounds, tech failures and employee layoffs. Jay Powell’s hopes to combat high inflation could come true sooner than he thinks.
