• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechUnicorns

Uber and Snapchat Are Making Bill Gurley’s Unicorn Fears Come True

By
Jen Wieczner
Jen Wieczner
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jen Wieczner
Jen Wieczner
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 8, 2016, 7:11 PM ET
Bill Gurley And Malcolm Gladwell In Conversation - 2015 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival
Photograph by Robert A Tobiansky — Getty Images for SXSW

Don’t say Bill Gurley didn’t warn you.

The Benchmark venture capitalist lamented in a blog post in April that the high numbers of “unicorns”—private companies with valuations of $1 billion or more—raising huge amounts of money with “remarkable ease” were making the market “dangerous” for startups and VCs because it could become increasingly difficult to sustain those valuations—which eventually may have nowhere to go but down.

There are now signs that Gurley’s prediction is already coming true. A larger and larger portion of venture capital dollars is going to small number of unicorn companies, according to a new study by research firm PitchBook. While VC funding rose more than 27% to $22.3 billion in the second quarter of 2016 over the previous quarter, there were 8% fewer deals—meaning a select few companies accounted for all of the growth in capital. Indeed, while funding to non-unicorn companies declined quarter over quarter, the money going to unicorns more than doubled to nearly $8.8 billion.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s tech newsletter.

That means unicorns received roughly 40% of all VC funding. Of that, much of it went to a handful of companies with sky-high valuations, according to Preqin. Those companies include private Alibaba (BABA) affiliate Ant Financial, which raised $4.5 billion in April; Uber, which raised $3.5 billion in equity funding in June; Snapchat, which raised nearly $1.1 billion; and Chinese ride-hailing startup Didi Chuxing, which also raised $4.5 billion in equity funding last month.

To raise such massive fundraising rounds, Gurley argued that companies were having to cast a wider net to find new investors—a potential sign of a bubble close to popping, as companies might exhaust their funding source. “The main message for investors who are just now being approached is the following: It’s not the second inning or even the sixth, it’s the fourteenth inning in a five-hour baseball game,” he wrote. “You are not being invited to a special dance; you are being approached because you are the lender of last resort.”

Unicorns’ reluctance to go public could also exacerbate the liquidity crunch, Gurley suggested in his post. And so far, the numbers aren’t looking good: With only 18 initial public offerings of venture-backed companies in the first half of 2016, this year is on track to be the slowest for such IPOs since 2009, when there were only 10 IPOs of VC-backed companies—and that was a recession year.

About the Author
By Jen Wieczner
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

CryptoYouTube
Exclusive: YouTube launches option for U.S. creators to receive stablecoin payouts through PayPal
By Ben WeissDecember 11, 2025
15 minutes ago
Five panelists seated; two women and five men.
AIBrainstorm AI
The race to deploy an AI workforce faces one important trust gap: What happens when an agent goes rogue?
By Amanda GerutDecember 11, 2025
3 hours ago
Stephanie Zhan, Partner Sequoia Capital speaking on stage at Fortune Brainstorm AI San Francisco 2025.
AIEye on AI
Highlights from Fortune Brainstorm AI San Francisco
By Jeremy KahnDecember 11, 2025
4 hours ago
Sam Altman
Arts & EntertainmentMedia
‘We’re not just going to want to be fed AI slop for 16 hours a day’: Analyst sees Disney/OpenAI deal as a dividing line in entertainment history
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 11, 2025
4 hours ago
InnovationBrainstorm AI
Backflips are easy, stairs are hard: Robots still struggle with simple human movements, experts say
By Nicholas GordonDecember 11, 2025
5 hours ago
Iger
AIDisney
‘Creativity is the new productivity’: Bob Iger on why Disney chose to be ‘aggressive,’ adding OpenAI as a $1 billion partner
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 11, 2025
6 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Success
At 18, doctors gave him three hours to live. He played video games from his hospital bed—and now, he’s built a $10 million-a-year video game studio
By Preston ForeDecember 10, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Investing
Baby boomers have now 'gobbled up' nearly one-third of America's wealth share, and they're leaving Gen Z and millennials behind
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 8, 2025
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
‘Be careful what you wish for’: Top economist warns any additional interest rate cuts after today would signal the economy is slipping into danger
By Eva RoytburgDecember 10, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Politics
Exclusive: U.S. businesses are getting throttled by the drop in tourism from Canada: ‘I can count the number of Canadian visitors on one hand’
By Dave SmithDecember 10, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
‘We have not seen this rosy picture’: ADP’s chief economist warns the real economy is pretty different from Wall Street’s bullish outlook
By Eleanor PringleDecember 11, 2025
15 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Netflix–Paramount bidding wars are pushing Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav toward billionaire status—he has one rule for success: ‘Never be outworked’
By Preston ForeDecember 10, 2025
1 day ago
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.