332 of 1,900 Unicorns Raised Below Peak Valuations by May 2026
Updated
Updated · The Business Times · Jun 22
332 of 1,900 Unicorns Raised Below Peak Valuations by May 2026
3 articles · Updated · The Business Times · Jun 22
Summary
332 startups in Stanford's unicorn database had raised fresh funding at or below their previous peak valuation by May 2026, marking them as so-called zombie unicorns.
Years of frothy private-market pricing set up the slide, leaving many once-$1 billion-plus companies unable to match the valuations they commanded during the boom.
The count comes from a database of 1,900 unicorns maintained by Stanford's Ilya Strebulaev, showing the problem has spread across a sizable share of the sector.
The trend underscores a broader Silicon Valley reckoning as investors and founders confront how much of the last decade's startup boom was built on inflated valuations.