[sharkweek]

There has been a major shift as of late where IPOing at those mid-late rounds just isn't the trend anymore. Public markets are a cruel beast where companies are living and dying by quarterly reporting so these skyrocketing growth startups have less incentive to let the public judge them. They also don't want to leave too much growth opportunity on the table when going public anymore.

So it makes sense why companies would want to stay private if someone is willing to give them the cash they think they need. Problem is, those investors also want to make a huge return, so a 20B valuation is going to come with some nasty liquidation preferences/ratchets etc. to protect the money.