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Technology -- Hungry, hungry unicorns
科技——饑腸轆轆的獨角獸
After a fat year, tech startups are bracing for lean times
在經歷了繁榮的一年后，科技初創公司準備迎來不景氣時期
After a stunning run during the pandemic, which put a premium on all things digital, tech stocks have hit a rough patch.
在疫情期間，科技股漲勢驚人，所有數字化產品都獲得了紅利，如今它們處境艱難。
The Nasdaq, a technology-heavy index, has fallen by 15% from its peak in November, weighed down by a new outbreak of Covid-19 in China and the Russia-Ukraine war, which are gumming up supply chains, and inflation, which erodes the value of future cashflows, making risky growth stocks less attractive to investors.
以科技股為主的納斯達克指數相比去年11月的峰值下跌了15%，原因是中國爆發的新一輪新冠疫情、堵塞供應鏈的俄烏戰爭以及侵蝕未來現金流的價值的通貨膨脹，降低了高風險成長型股票對投資者的吸引力。
On April 20th the market value of Netflix crashed by a third, or $54bn, after the video-streaming titan reported the first quarterly net loss of subscribers in more than a decade.
4月20日，在視頻流媒體巨頭Netflix公布了十多年來的首次季度訂閱凈虧損后，該公司市值暴跌三分之一，即540億美元。
The bloodletting in public markets has left many wondering about private technology startups.
公開市場上的大出血讓許多人對私營科技初創公司產生了懷疑。
Like their listed peers, they have enjoyed a Covid-fuelled bonanza.
與它們已經上市的同行一樣，它們也擁有著新冠助推產生的財運。
Thanks in part to new types of investor, such as hedge funds and corporations, ploughing more cash into the sector, last year was a bumper one for venture-capital (VC) deals.
部分原因是對沖基金和公司等新型投資者向該行業投入了更多資金，去年是風險投資交易的豐收之年。
According to CB Insights, a research firm, global tech startups raised $628bn in 2021, more than double the previous year's tally.
根據研究公司CB Insights的數據，全球科技初創企業在2021年融資6280億美元，是前一年的兩倍多。
In the same period the number of deals jumped by a third, to more than 34,000.
同期交易數量激增三分之一，超過3.4萬筆。
Fully 528 private firms became "unicorns", valued at $1bn or more.
總共有528家私營企業成為“獨角獸企業”，估值達到或超過10億美元。
Are these rich valuations now also about to take a tumble?
這些高估值企業如今也將經歷暴跌嗎？
The short answer: almost certainly.
簡短的答案是：幾乎可以肯定。
Dealmaking has already slowed.
交易已經放緩。
The number of transactions sealed between January and March fell by 5% compared with the previous quarter.
與上一季度相比，1月到3月之間達成的交易數量下降了5%。
The amount invested dropped by 19%, the biggest quarterly decline since 2012.
投資額下降了19%，這是2012年以來的最大季度降幅。
Some of the factors behind the slowdown are those unsettling the public markets, supply-chain snags and inflation chief among them.
經濟放緩背后的部分原因是令公開市場不安的因素，其中最主要的是供應鏈障礙和通貨膨脹。
Another cause is the public markets themselves.
另一個原因是公開市場本身。
An index of stocks that have floated via an initial public offering (IPO) within the past two years, compiled by Renaissance Capital, a hedge fund, is down by around a third in the past 12 months.
由對沖基金Renaissance Capital編制的一項股票指數顯示，在過去的12個月里，通過首次公開募股上市的股票下跌了約三分之一。
This has discouraged many startups from going public.
這打消了許多初創公司上市的念頭。
In the last three months of 2021, 296 firms listed.
在2021年的最后三個月，有296家公司上市。
In the first three months of 2022, just 164 did -- mostly in Asia.
而在2022年的前三個月，只有164個國家上市——大部分是在亞洲。
Worried that they will be unable to monetise their stakes soon, venture capitalists have tightened their purse strings.
由于擔心無法很快將所持股份變現，風險投資家們捂緊了自己的錢包。
Private valuations are beginning to be affected.
私營企業的估值開始受到影響。
Last month Instacart, a grocery-delivery firm, took the unusual step of announcing its own devaluation, from $39bn in March last year to $24bn, even without an accompanying "down round" of fund raising at a lower price.
上個月，食品雜貨配送公司Instacart采取了一項不同尋常的舉措，自己宣布其資產貶值，從去年3月的390億美元降至240億美元，甚至沒有伴隨著一輪以更低價格進行的“下行”融資。
Valuations are falling in secondary markets, too.
二級市場的估值也在下降。
Phil Haslett, co-founder of EquityZen, which helps tech employees sell their pre-IPO stock options, says that the prices of some of those stocks have fallen by 30-40% since the second half of last year.
EquityZen是一家幫助科技公司員工出售上市前股票期權的企業，其聯合創始人菲爾·哈斯萊特表示，自去年下半年以來，其中一些股票的價格已經下跌了30%到40%。
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