2022 was a year of tumult for global capital markets, as they battled against a
range of economic and geopolitical challenges that had arisen from the Covid-
era fallout. Nasdaq was particularly impacted, as it was heavily weighted with
mega-cap, growth-style members that were disproportionately hurt by the rise
in rates.
In the private markets, venture funding fell by 35% to $415.1B in 2022, and the
number of mega-rounds dropped by 42% to 923. This had a huge knock-on
effect on unicorn births, which fell from 539 in 2021 to 258 in 2022. The
decline in unicorn births in 2022 was a concerning trend, as it indicates a
decrease in investor confidence in startups and a potential slowdown in the
growth of these businesses.
The lack of short-term liquidity options in the market will bring an
unprecedented level of activity in the private equity secondary market. This
expansion is projected to take place despite sellers' hesitance to accept
discounts from buyers due to the growing cost of liquidity. The secondary
market will experience substantial long-term growth as the market continues
to embrace secondaries as a widely accepted liquidity option.
In the venture capital space, most of the market metrics still remain positive.
Compared to 2019, global venture funding is 60% higher, and the number of
unicorns globally is now 1’200 (vs 300). While tech layoffs have been widely
reported, they represent an extremely small portion of the hiring over the last
3 years (i.e., Amazon's18k layoffs represent just 2% of new hirings since
Covid).
We believe that this market environment is favourable, as management teams
are no longer and solely focused on growth, but are also paying attention to
profitability and sustainable value creation.
Source: Secondary Capital