Founders’ guides to equity, valuations, and company growth.
For many employees at high-growth companies, equity can represent one of their most valuable assets, but understanding what that equity is worth, when to exercise it, or how to access liquidity can be complex. Option types, exercise windows, transfer restrictions, taxes, and shifting private-market valuations all play a role in determining the best path forward. …
How many unicorns exist in the world right now? There are already more than 1,680 unicorns in the world, with a collective value of $8.6 trillion as of Q1 2026. That’s the headline statistic but ask a different tracker and you’ll get a different response, ranging from approximately 1,250 “true” venture-backed unicorns to nearly 4,000 …
How long does it take for a startup to exit? Startup exits are taking longer across the board but the gap between sectors has never been wider. In 2026, an AI-hardware company might be sold within five years of founding; a late-stage, venture-backed business is more likely looking at 15 or more. Payments and consumer …
Web3 has grown from an experiment to a regulated asset class, and the companies that produced it exchanges, wallets, custody platforms, stablecoin issuers, and blockchain infrastructure have evolved alongside it. A “unicorn” is a private company valued at $1 billion or more, a once-rare metric that is now a true benchmark in the cryptocurrency space. …
Eqvista continues to make equity management and company valuation faster, simpler, and more accessible. Our latest product updates include a redesigned platform experience, QuickBooks integration for Eqvista Real-Time Company Valuation®, and the Eqvista mobile app, giving founders and finance teams easier access to their equity and valuation data wherever they work. Take a look at …
When investors evaluate a stock, the Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio is often the first number they look at. However, P/E alone cannot give the whole situation. A stock trading at 50x earnings may be a bargain if the company is expanding earnings at 60% per year, yet a stock trading at 12x earnings may be costly …
Quick Answer: Y Combinator has backed more than 5,600 startups since 2005, including Stripe, Airbnb, DoorDash, Coinbase, Instacart, Dropbox, Reddit, and Rippling. As of 2026, YC companies have a combined estimated portfolio value of more than $600 billion. This ranking compares 100 notable Y Combinator companies based on total disclosed funding raised. How does a …
Tomás Escobar, CEO and Co-founder of Shorta, has spent his career building digital products that reshape how people access and experience content. From founding Cuevana to now leading Shorta, he has consistently focused on solving real audience friction with strong product thinking, mobile-first design, and a clear eye for scale. In this interview with Eqvista, …
Modern investor databases function as signal engines because they do more than list companies: they detect, validate, and rank market activity that points to possible deal flow. Instead of acting like static directories, they continuously update funding signals, investor patterns, and company momentum so investors can spot opportunities earlier. In private markets, where information is …
A down-round occurs when a company goes public at a valuation below its last private funding round. In 2026, down-round IPOs have increasingly become the default outcome for many late-stage companies, as public markets recalibrate valuations set during the 2021-22 private-market peak. For founders and CFOs, this gap matters because it reshapes dilution, employee equity …
Some people stumble into finance by default – Matthieu Oung chose it on purpose. After a general first year at Audencia Business School, he deliberately went after corporate finance, with a particular pull toward startups and venture capital. It’s a path that has taken him from inside a French SaaS startup during its own sale …
ASC 820 valuations must be completed before audits because they define how investment fair values are measured, documented, and disclosed. For small and mid-sized fund managers, engaging a third-party valuation specialist is the most reliable way to ensure audit-ready compliance. Key Takeaways What Is ASC 820 and Why Does It Apply To Fund Managers? Under …
Solo founders can raise startup funding, but they face a measurable, structural disadvantage that begins long before they ever pitch an investor. In 2024, solo-founded startups rose to 35% of all new company formations, more than doubling from 17% in 2015, yet their share of companies that successfully closed a venture capital round remained flat …
Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of the Eqvista mobile app, the first app built for Eqvista Real-Time Company Valuation®. The launch represents another step toward making company valuation more accessible, dynamic, and available wherever business decisions are made. For decades, company valuations have been delivered as static reports created at a specific point …
A secondary transaction refers to the sale of pre-existing shares to a new investor. In contrast, in a primary transaction, the company issues new shares and receives the proceeds. If founders know how to engage in secondary transactions, the path to liquidity does not have to involve the business reaching a company-wide exit event. The …
The opportunity cost in business can be understood in terms of potential gains or profits an entrepreneur forgoes by making one choice over another. Due to the increasing possibilities to spend, save, or invest in a business, entrepreneurs need a precise way to compare their options to stay within their budgets. This is where analyzing …
Eqvista joins a conversation with George Crane, Co-Founder and CEO of Bindbridge, to discuss the journey of a startup bringing fresh thinking to agriculture through AI-driven molecular discovery. In this conversation, George shares how Bindbridge was founded at the intersection of science, technology, and a pressing industry need: the search for safer, more effective, and …
A cap table records who owns a company and under what terms; a waterfall model uses that same data to calculate who gets paid, and how much, when the company is sold. Building an investor-ready cap table and waterfall model is one of the most important steps in startup financial planning. A startup can look …
SaaS companies can qualify for Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS), but being a software company is not enough. Consulting, implementation, custom development, and other service activities can complicate the Section 1202 active business test and put the QSBS exclusion at risk. The stakes are now even higher: eligible stock acquired after July 4, 2025 may …
Choosing a 409A valuation provider isn’t just about getting a report quickly or finding the lowest-cost option. The best providers prepare valuations that can withstand review by Big Four auditors months or even years later. That means following recognized valuation standards, providing clear documentation, and offering support when auditors have questions. For late-stage startups preparing …
Over 25,000 companies use Eqvista to simplify equity, stay compliant, and scale—whether hiring their first employee or closing their next round.