Recent market trends show a rise in acquisitions of startups that have not secured new venture funding for at least four years. Despite the lack of recent capital injections, these companies are successfully exiting, though often at valuations significantly lower than their previous peaks.
Uber recently acquired the catering platform ezCater for $2.3 billion in cash. This deal occurred nearly five years after the company’s last funding round and represents a 53% increase over its late 2021 pre-money valuation of $1.5 billion. In the year prior to the sale, ezCater reported over $2.5 billion in gross bookings.
Other notable acquisitions include Miro, which agreed to sell to Bending Spoons for approximately $1.36 billion, a sharp decline from its $17.5 billion valuation in early 2022. Similarly, Bending Spoons acquired Airtable for $1.28 billion, which is roughly one-tenth of its December 2021 valuation of $11 billion.
Additional market activity includes the sale of the fashion startup Everlane to Shein for $100 million, following a valuation in the hundreds of millions in 2020. The meditation app Headspace was acquired by Sword Health for a reported $300 million, falling well below its peak post-money valuation of approximately $2.6 billion.
