US VC Valuations Report

VC valuations stagnate further

With the exception of seed rounds, VC valuations in Q3 continued to descend from peaks registered in 2021 and early 2022. Fewer companies met investors' higher bar for funding, which forced many to resort to bridge financings or stave off raising new capital by cutting costs.

Despite IPOs of prominent companies, their listings performed relatively poorly, indicating reduced investor enthusiasm for VC-backed companies, according to the Q3 2023 US VC Valuations Report, sponsored by Morgan Stanley at Work.

Takeaways include:

• Seed deal sizes experienced a modest ascent.

 

• The valuation gap between seed and early-stage startups continued to shrink.

 

• The estimated percentage of down rounds climbed to a 10-year high at 17.1%, up from 13.5% in Q2.