Unicorns: Entrepreneurial Golden Seal Loses Shine

One of its founders likewise admits, “I don’t like the word or anything related to it.” glovo, a company that is already a ‘unicorn’. For Sasha Michaud What’s interesting is “creating sustainable businesses,” he says. “What [los ‘unicornios’] they’re in vogue and talking a lot about valuations is negative because it hides their background stories,” says one of his colleagues at the head of the company. factorial, Jordi RomeroA technology that is on the verge of becoming one. “Earlier when we talked about ‘unicorns’ we were referring to something unique, Google anyone PayPalsomething that has reached a large audience of the market, but now there are a few more like this”, Dry, David Backstrom, a company that has decided to grow out of venture capital funds. “We’re all so obsessed with investments, amounts and valuations that it’s almost a sickness and ‘unicorns’, the total sickness,” emphasizes its founder. learn about life, Christopher Pommereninga slightly younger start.

‘Unicorn’ is a label originally coined by a North American investor. allen lee To distinguish the ‘software’ companies in the United States that have achieved market capitalization of over a billion dollars in 10 years. So, for example, they receive an investment of at least 10 million dollars in exchange for 1% of the company.

Six Catalan ‘unicorns’

The thing is, the concept that was already used to describe any ‘start-up’ that exceeds that rating has gone from being a simple label to building rankings for a region and being a source of reputation. It is clear that Generalitat de Catalunya wants to reach 4,000 start-ups and 15 unicorns by 2030, without going any further. For now, according to the criteria of DealRoom, the portal on which the Government bases its statistics, autonomy is already 6 companies like this: eDreams, adevinta, leave (founded in Barcelona but located in the United States), glovo, wall box and since this year, TravelPerk.

“Our priority is for companies to be born in Catalonia but also to grow there, recognizing that Catalonia is a good place to start companies as well as to grow them,” says Generalitat, chief innovation and entrepreneurship, Generalitat, Lluis Junca. “We’re talking about unicorns because that’s the standard way for the start-up world to talk about companies that have grown big,” he justifies.

Entrepreneur and investor are more restrictive Charles White“It’s a way of marking a psychological barrier where a company has reached a certain social status, and logically, the more the better for a country’s economy,” he explains. “This is a piece of knowledge that contributes to both talent attracting and international investment purposes,” the expert continues.

Traps and malicious judgments

“Having a very high rating has a media advantage: You start appearing on listings, which helps you attract customers, attract more employees,” admits the Factorial founder. Based on cases from the same entrepreneur’s circle, he says, the problem is when cheats are made to get the seal, or when clauses are signed that give a venture capital fund excessive power just to achieve that billion-dollar valuation.

“There is so much liquidity in the economy today that it is no longer venture capital, it is investing money,” analyzes the founder of Sequra. “An investor prefers to put 200 million euros on a one billion dollar valuation and then launch it. preferred stock itemsThis implies that you are always guaranteed to be the first to get the money back”, details the entrepreneur. “This is why venture capital has grown so much: it has such good returns because entrepreneurs are accepting the game,” he adds.

However, according to the vision of the CEO of the association Tech Barcelona, Michael Marti, the concept is neither part of the daily conversation nor is it obsessed with getting such a name. He’s clear that the key is in a combination of both things: “I’m happy when there are companies that bill and grow, even if they’re never ‘unicorns’, which is ultimately a game between an investor’s money put in. rate and proportion of the acquired company”, Martí deepens, but that also metrics that international reports measure when comparing ecosystems.

Regardless, both this expert and others consulted provide indicators that can easily replace this metric in a matter of seconds: turnover, presence in other countries, contract staff, technology offered, or number of customers.

First of all, because after gaining the ‘unicorn’ attribute, absolutely nothing changes. “You have a bigger company with more capital, but the problems are still there, they’re just bigger,” says Glovo co-founder. Regardless, the first thing he does when he sees entrepreneurs holding his Sequra counterpart is super round He takes pity on them: “The worst day of his life,” he says.