A decade after Aileen Lee coined the term “unicorn,” she knows that the term has taken on a life of its own—and is imperfect.
“It’s an ephemeral word, it’s a point in time,” she told me. “I don’t think we have a good shortener for long-term, sustained success…So, I think it’s useful, but people maybe over-rotated on it a little bit to achieve something in the short term.”
Lee coined the term “unicorn” in 2013 as she was starting her own firm, Cowboy Ventures. She’d previously spent more than a decade at Kleiner Perkins, and at Cowboy has backed a wide range of businesses, including Spruce Health, Crunchbase, Dollar Shave Club, and The League. But it’s a November 2013 TechCrunch post that she’s most remembered for, called “Welcome To The Unicorn Club,” originating a term that’s since permeated our consciousness.
Over the years, aspiring entrepreneurs with gilded resumes have come to Lee, asking her how to build a unicorn. Her response is good-natured but clear: “That’s not how this works.” Recently, Lee made headlines for her and Cowboy VC’s latest report, looking at where the unicorn landscape is today, ten years after she first described what a unicorn is.
I confess one of my biggest questions: Why does no one seem to agree how many unicorns there are out there? Lee’s unicorn count is 532, CB Insights’ is 1,233, and PitchBook’s is 1,354. The discrepancies between numbers come down to geographic parameters—Lee, for example, is only looking at the U.S.—and disclosure issues. Startups still sparingly disclose valuation, let alone more granular metrics that offer a look at the financial health of a business.
“A lot of people say that we should use revenue,” Lee told me. “We’d love to use revenue, but nobody’s disclosing revenue. Margins and profitability, that would be great, we’d love to use those numbers.”
Over the next few years, Lee also predicts that we’ll see unicorns vanish, with the herd shrinking by more than 30%. With the precipitous falls of companies like Convoy and Olive Health, the “unicorpse”—that is, the unicorn’s undead, dark, cousin—is a story that’s gaining steam everyday. She laughs as I bring it up, but stops herself.
“It’s kind of cute and funny, but this is also people’s careers,” she said. “It’s not funny when you lose your job. It’s people’s hopes and dreams, too.”
True enough. Olive Health, once valued at $4 billion, shuttered around Halloween, while logistics startup Convoy (previously valued at $3.8 billion with names like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos buying in) was sold for parts to Flexport around the same time.
As unicorpses are piling up, I ask Lee if she still thinks the term “unicorn” remains useful. She surprised me here—it really doesn’t seem like she’s all that wedded to the phrase that made her famous. Lee is “totally open” to another term gaining traction—and actually ascribes much to journalists, particularly the New York Times’ Farhad Manjoo, for seeing that she got any credit at all for coining the term.
“It’s not about me,” she said.
A reading recommendation…If you want to learn more about ‘unicorpses,’ this is your lucky week! My colleague Jessica Mathews, who will be writing for you tomorrow, just wrote Fortune‘s latest cover story about slain unicorns, disappearing dreams, and the sometimes-brutal private markets. Check it out here.
One more thing…Term Sheet is partnering with Semaphore again for its 16th annual confidence survey of private equity, venture capital, hedge fund, and other professionals. For the curious, a preliminary result: So far, 71% of you say Sam Altman should be running OpenAI. We’d love for you to weigh in; it’s anonymous and should take you 3–4 minutes. You can take the survey here. Have a look at last year’s results here, here, and here.
See you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Joe Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.
VENTURE DEALS
- Bilt Rewards, a New York City-based rewards platform for rent payments and neighborhood spending, raised $200 million in funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by Eldridge and existing investors Left Lane Capital, Camber Creek, and Prosus Ventures.
- Torq, a Tel Aviv, Israel and Portland, Ore.-based autonomous security operations platform, raised $120 million in funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, GGV Capital, Insight Partners, Greenfield Partners, and Evolution Equity Partners.
- Ansel, a New York-based insurtech, raised $20 million in funding. Portage led the round and was joined by Two Sigma Ventures, Brewer Lane Ventures, SixThirty Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Digitalis Ventures, Symphony AI, and others.
- Sion Power Corporation, a Tucson, Ariz.-based developer of electric vehicle batteries, raised $75 million in Series A funding. LG Energy Solution led the round and was joined by Euclidean Capital and Hillspire.
- Kittl, a Berlin, Germany-based developer of text-to-graphic AI technology, raised $36 million in Series B funding. IVP led the round and was joined by Left Lane Capital.
- Albedo, a Dever, Colo.-based provider of high-resolution imagery from space, raised $35 million in funding from Booz Allen Ventures, Standard Investments, Initialized Capital, Y Combinator, Giant Step Capital, Republic Capital, and others.
- Spellbook, a Toronto, Canada-based AI co-pilot for lawyers, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Inovia Capital led the round and was joined by Thomson Reuters Ventures, The Legaltech Fund, Bling Capital, Moxxie Ventures, Concrete Ventures, Path Ventures, N49P, and Good News Ventures.
- Elo Life Systems, a Durham, N.C.-based ingredient company, raised $20.5 million in a Series A extension. DCVC Bio and Novo Holdings led the round and was joined by Hanwha Next Generation Opportunity Fund, AccelR8, and Alexandria Venture Investments.
- Packmatic, a Berlin, Germany-based packaging marketplace, raised €15 million ($16.3 million) in Series A funding. EQT Ventures led the round and was joined by HV Capital, xDeck, and angel investors.
- CardioSignal, a Turku, Finland and Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer of heart disease detection technology, raised $10 million in Series A funding. DigiTx Partners led the round and was joined by Sandwater and existing investor Maki.vc.
- OpenDialog, a London, U.K.-based conversational AI platform, raised $8 million in Series A funding. AlbionVC led the round and was joined by Dowgate Capital and angel investors.
- deeploi, a Berlin, Germany-based developer of an enterprise IT management platform, raised $6.5 million in seed funding. Atomico led the round and was joined by existing investor Cherry Ventures.
- Sequence, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based personal finance management platform, raised $5.5 million in funding from Aleph.
- Prompt Security, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based provider of generative AI security for enterprises, raised $5 million in seed funding. Hertz Ventures led the round and was joined by Four Rivers and angel investors.
- HEAL Security, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based cybersecurity platform designed for the health care industry, raised $4.6 million in pre-seed funding from Health2047 and others.
- Send AI, an Amsterdam, Netherlands-based provider of software designed to automatically read documents and extract information through the use of AI, raised €2.2 million ($2.4 million) in funding. Gradient Ventures and Keen Venture Partners led the round and were joined by angel investors.
- Bioeutectics, a Mendoza, Argentina-based company looking to make green alternatives to solvents used in industrial products and processes, raised $2.1 million in funding. Atento Capital led the round and was joined by Fen Ventures, GridX, Synesqo Ventures, and IndieBio.
- Synonym Finance, a Toronto, Canada-based cross-chain lending platform, raised $1.5 million. Borderless Capital led the round and was joined by Robot Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Veris Ventures, and others.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- FTV Capital acquired a minority stake in BillingPlatform, a Denver, Colo.-based revenue lifecycle platform for businesses, for $90 million.
- Aria Growth Partners acquired a minority stake in Ultra Violette, a Victoria, Australia-based skin care brand, for $15 million AUD ($9.9 million).
- Angeles Equity Partners acquired Acieta, a Council Bluff, Iowa and Waukesha, Wisc.-based industrial robotics manufacturer and integrator. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Kindeva Drug Delivery, backed by Altaris Capital Partners, acquired Summit Biosciences, a Lexington, Ky.-based developer of prescription nasal sprays. Financial terms were not disclosed.
EXITS
- ADM (NYSE: ADM) acquired Revela Foods, a New Berlin, Wis.-based developer and manufacturer of dairy flavor ingredients and solutions, from New Heritage Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OTHER
- Cetera Financial Group acquired a minority stake in Wilde Wealth Management, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based wealth management firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Enlightenment Capital merged iNovex, INNOPLEX, Secure Innovations, and HTS Infosys into RealmOne, a Columbia, Md.-based provider of cybersecurity, intelligence collections and analysis, and other solutions and services for national security agencies.
- InteleTravel acquired MGME, a New York City-based events agency. Financial terms were not disclosed.
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
- Myriad Venture Partners, a New York City-based venture capital firm, raised $100 million for its inaugural fund focused on AI, clean technology, and B2B Software companies.
- LDV Capital, a New York City-based venture capital firm, raised $31 million for its fourth fund focused on early-stage deep tech companies.
PEOPLE
- Broad Sky Partners, a New York City-based private equity firm, hired RJ David as managing director. Formerly, he was with The Carlyle Group.
- Menlo Ventures, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm, hired Rama Sekhar as a partner. Formerly, he was with Norwest Venture Partners.
- Renovus Capital, a Wayne, Pa.-based private equity firm, hired Jason Tanker as managing director. Formerly, he was with Norwest Equity Partners.
- TCV, a London, U.K., Menlo Park, Calif., and New York City-based venture capital firm, promoted Michael Kalfayan, Shalini Rao, and Julia Novaes Roux to general partner.
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