1/9/2024: InVision is Shutting Down

Another Unicorn bites the dust

Design collaboration app InVision is shutting down. The company raised $350M+ and was previously valued at ~$2B. Back in the day, InVision was super popular among designers but Figma basically decimated its business. According to The Information, InVision’s revenue tanked 50% in 2022. It's unclear if investors will get any of their money back.  The demise of InVision signifies the difficulty of startup investing. A company can do really well for a while and then falter. Without an acquisition or IPO, startup investors don’t really have a lot of tools to manage risks on an individual company basis. Investors could try to unload their stakes on the secondary markets but the liquidity is limited and the stakes are usually sold at deep discounts.

I wonder if we are going to see more unicorns fail than IPO in 2024. Actually, I believe the answer is yes. Unicorns that are strong enough to IPO in 2024 are a minority. There are too many overfunded zombie unicorns out there. Most of them will officially die in 2024.