CB Insights
- A new report from CB Insights showed SV Angel and Y Combinator as the top seed-stage and Series A investors in billion-dollar startups.
- Of the top five firms with early investments in "unicorn" startups, three invested in home rental startup Airbnb and grocery delivery service Instacart, both of which are rumored to go public in 2019.
- A unicorn typically refers to a privately-held tech startup that is valued at or above $1 billion. According to CB Insights, there are 344 of these unicorns in the world as of May 5th.
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With Uber, Lyft, and Pinterest now public companies, all eyes are on other billion-dollar businesses in the IPO pipeline.
According to a new report from CB Insights, early-stage tech investing firms SV Angel and Y Combinator are poised to make a hefty return if either Airbnb or Instacart go public in 2019. The two firms are early investors in both companies, which are each valued well above $1 billion.
The CB Insights report lays out which investors have staked early claims in the elite group of "unicorns" - startups valued by private investors at $1 billion or more - with SV Angel coming out on top with 18 unicorn feathers in its proverbial cap. SV Angel's stake in Airbnb is not publicly disclosed, but according to Pitchbook data, the firm would have bought shares at $0.42 each in the round, meaning it's likely to turn a big profit if and when Airbnb IPOs.
Notable startup incubator Y Combinator is a close second with 16 early bets. Startups that graduate from Y Combinator's program receive $150,000 in exchange for a 7% stake in the company. At current valuations, Y Combinator's stake in Airbnb is worth around $2.6 billion, and its stake in Instacart is worth $532 million.
Here are the top venture capital firms with the most early-stage investments in billion-dollar businesses, according to CB Insights: