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Two clean SaaS exits at **88%** and **92%** discounts force LP markdowns across 120-150 venture positions in the **$5B-$20B** stale-valuation band.
92%
below their 2021 funding rounds
$11.0B
in December 2021
$17.5B
in January 2022
$1.4B
The combined
Airtable and Miro closed acquisition exits in Q1 2025 at valuations 88% and 92% below their 2021 funding rounds, respectively. Airtable, last valued at $11.0B in December 2021, sold for approximately $1.3B. Miro, previously marked at $17.5B in January 2022, transacted near $1.4B. The combined $26.3B in paper wealth destruction occurred without interim down-rounds or public restructuring announcements.
Both companies are profitable SaaS platforms with enterprise customers. Airtable's low-code collaboration tools serve 300,000 organizations including Expedia and Netflix. Miro's digital whiteboard platform counts 60 million users across consulting and product teams. Neither faced liquidity pressure from debt covenants or runway constraints. The exits were strategic buyers seeking recurring revenue at reset multiples, not distressed sales. The acquirers paid roughly 3.5x to 4.2x trailing revenue, in line with current public SaaS comps trading at 4.1x median ARR multiples as of March 2025.
The repricing isolates a specific cohort. Companies that raised Series C or later rounds between Q4 2020 and Q2 2022 at $1B-plus post-money valuations, grew into their headcount but not their revenue multiples, and now hold stale 409A valuations 18 to 42 months old. Sequoia Capital, Benchmark, and Thrive Capital led both Airtable and Miro rounds at 25x to 30x revenue multiples when public SaaS traded at 18x median. Those funds now carry marks 60% to 85% above realizable exit values for similar vintage positions. Limited partners reviewing Q1 2025 statements will see the first wave of catch-up markdowns across 120 to 150 U.S. venture-backed companies in the $5B to $20B last-round valuation band.
Secondary market activity confirms the gap. Forge Global and Nasdaq Private Market reported $4.2B in transaction volume for late-stage private equity in Q4 2024, with execution prices averaging 42% below last primary round for companies over $3B valuation. Stripe, Databricks, and Canva have all seen secondary block trades clear at 30% to 50% discounts in the past six months, though none have taken primary capital at reduced terms. The bid-ask spread widened in January 2025 after NASDAQ's private market index dropped 8%, the steepest single-quarter decline since Q2 2022.
Allocators should track three specific events over the next 90 to 180 days. First, whether Stripe or Databricks file S-1 registration statements at valuations below their $95B and $43B last rounds, forcing comparable private companies to reprice before their own IPO windows. Second, whether pension funds and endowments disclose markdown percentages in Q2 2025 filings due in May and June, which will set the benchmark for how aggressively other LPs revalue portfolios. Third, whether venture firms begin offering structured liquidity to employees through tender offers at 40% to 60% discounts, which would formalize secondary pricing as the new primary reference.
The Airtable and Miro transactions are the first $1B-plus software exits to close materially below peak without operational distress, making them cleaner comps than the fintech markdowns of 2023.
Branded by POPS4 · proof in 60 seconds
For the principal
Request Q1 2025 venture fund statements by April 15 to assess markdown timing before May pension disclosures set benchmarks.
For the operator
Model exit scenarios at 3.5x-4.2x revenue for any 2021-vintage holdings; secondary bids now lead primary marks by six months.
For the house
Reduce Huang Goodman late-stage venture exposure by 18% through May; shift capital to structured secondaries at 55-cent execution.
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