The soaring valuations of the early 2020s are, finally, coming back to earth.
This week, PitchBook data revealed that 15.9% of venture-backed deals in 2025 so far have been down rounds, marking a decade high. Additionally, almost every major IPO listing in Q2 hit the public markets below its peak valuation, the data from PitchBook adds. Some examples include MNTN (at IPO, valuation was down from $2 billion to $1.1 billion), Circle (dropping from $7.7 billion to $5.8 billion), Hinge (valuation at IPO was $6.2 billion, down from the $23 billion high), and Chime (going public at $9.1 billion from a $25 billion peak valuation).
AI continues to be a bright spot in many ways—but isn’t entirely exempt either, as 29.3% of down rounds were in PitchBook’s broad AI and machine learning vertical. Of course, the biggest names in AI—like OpenAI, reportedly heading towards a $500 billion valuation, and Anthropic, reportedly raising at a $170 billion valuation—continue to hit eye-popping levels. And lower on the food chain, AI is still consistently valued at a premium, with PitchBook reporting that median Series B step-up for AI startups is 2.1x, well above the median of 1.4x that all other categories fetch.
The IPO market is, some would say, back. (I think it pretty much is, but also has been for a while, for those with the stomach for it.) In Q2, venture-backed startups in the U.S. generated $67 billion in exit value, PitchBook said—the highest since the last quarter of 2021. But here’s a sobering fact: There are still lots of unicorns out there, so distributions back to VC firms and by extension their LPs are limited.
An unsurprising but ice-cold (and very down-to-earth) number to leave you with: The unicorns that have made their public debut this year comprise a mere 1% of all U.S. unicorns.
See you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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