Tag: unicorns

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When “tech” goes bad- law of unintended consequences

I never perceived bicycle sharing as a tech company- thousands of investors and billions of dollars  thought otherwise in a rush to become tech unicorns. Ofo, the Chinese bike-sharing company grew from obscurity to a valuation of around $3 billion at its highest point.  Before the fireworks came to an abrupt halt, Ofo had raised a whopping $2.2 billion. Then, suddenly, its fortunes turned and it found itself close to bankruptcy with hundreds of thousands of lost or broken bikes.… Read more

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Casper- another money losing Low-tech “unicorn” bites the dust

Casper is in the business of marketing, advertising, and selling mattresses, duvets, sheets, and the like, and this is a low-margin business with no barriers to entry, open to the entire world, requiring huge marketing expenses to achieve any kind of growth.

Yet despite this it attracted a unicorn valuation of $1.1BIL in March 2019

Closing price after its first days of trading Casper’s market valuation of $312 million has collapsed by 72% from that unicorn “valuation” of $1.1 billion.… Read more

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Enchanted Garden of Unicorns

I love the Hubert  Horan series on Uber/Lyft and with other Unicorns -inhabiting their own enchanted gardens- venturing out into the real world can be a danger to their health. Here is his latest take down of Uber/Lyft source 

Given Lyft’s terrible performance- down 45% on their IPO price-  Uber abandoned its original $120 billion valuation objective. As it began its roadshow, it announced a $90 billion target ($55 per share) designed to raise over $10 billion in new investment.… Read more