[hartard]

Your last statement is not necessarily true.

That's the funny thing about startup valuations; they are not an apples-to-apples comparison to a public market. In fact, a savvy investor may be willing to invest $100M at a $25B valuation knowing full well there will never be a liquidation event worth $25B. It all depends on the deal terms (preferences, ratchets, etc.).

It's entirely rational to invest $XM at $YB valuation when your deal terms stipulate a minimum return of ($XM * 1.25), regardless of valuation.

[jacquesm]

Which leads to the conclusion that without knowledge of the terms of the deal it is a bit of a weird thing to value the entire company based on that deal. Because such a deal should be discounted based on the terms not applying equally to the rest of the shares already created.

[mason55]

"AirBnB raises $100m which gives them an unknown valuation due to the complex financial terms of the deal" just doesn't draw as many clicks on your story