European startup valuations started dropping in the latter half of 2022.
Despite the drop-off, median valuations of early-stage startups registered a 23.4% YoY increase over 2021's values. Median early-stage valuations figures peaked at €7.7M ($8.2M) in Q2 2022 before dropping to €5.2M ($5.5M) in Q4.
Median valuations of late-stage startups slid from €16.8M ($17.8M) in Q1 to €11.4M ($12.1M) in Q4.
- Per Crunchbase, valuations of late-stage startups are likely to see further cuts in 2023.
- Only 15.2% of overall VC deals consisted of down rounds, indicating that many startups opted for structured financing instead of raising equity funding at lower valuations.
- In 2023, Pitchbook expects the number of down rounds to increase.
- 47 startups cemented their status as unicorns across 2022.
- However, due to the macroeconomic volatility, the average unicorn valuations dropped from €3.6B ($3.8B) to €3.3B ($3.5B).
