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Falling valuations in turn make it harder to raise capital.
不斷下跌的估值反過來又加大了融資的難度。
New projects may be put on hold and new hires may have to stop.
新項目可能會被擱置，新員工的招聘可能不得不停止。
Some companies could go out of business altogether.
一些公司可能會直接倒閉。
On April 5th Fast, a maker of checkout software for online merchants, announced that it was shutting down because of fundraising problems.
4月5日，為在線商家提供結賬軟件的Fast公司宣布由于資金籌措問題將停止服務。
Many investors predict that more startups will go bust or see their valuations decline in the coming months.
許多投資者預計，未來幾個月將有更多初創公司破產或估值下跌。
To see which startups are most at risk, The Economist looked at the annual revenue growth and valuation-to-sales ratios for 500-odd unicorns around the world, for which PitchBook, a data firm, had information.
為了了解哪些初創公司面臨的風險最大，《經濟學人》研究了全球500多家獨角獸企業的年營收增長和估值與銷售額的比值，數據公司PitchBook掌握著這些數據。
For the whole lot, the median revenue growth was 63% and the value-to-revenue ratio was 22.
整體而言，營收增長中值為63%，估值與營收比值為22。
Three sectors looked particularly vulnerable.
有三個行業看起來尤其脆弱。
One is hardware companies, such as Juul, an e-cigarette firm, and Royole, a Chinese maker of smart devices.
一類是硬件公司，比如電子煙公司Juul和中國智能設備制造商柔宇。
This group has a median revenue growth of 32% and valuations 25 times their annual sales.
這類企業的營收增長中值為32%，估值與年銷售額的比值為25。
Another category is fintech firms, including Britain's Checkout.com and America's Plaid.
另一類是金融科技公司，包括英國的Checkout.com和美國的Plaid。
Such firms' median valuation is about 33 times their sales, the highest among the 11 broad sectors we examined, but their median sales growth is only middling, at 70% per year.
這類公司的估值中值與銷售額的的比值約為33，是我們調查的11個行業中最高的，但它們的銷售額增長中值僅為中等水平，每年增長70%。
Business-software firms, such as Miro and Talkdesk, are also looking shaky.
商業軟件企業，如Miro和Talkdesk，看起來也不太穩定。
These firms have a median valuation of 28 times their sales and revenue growth of 33%.
這些公司的估值中值與其銷售額的比值為28，營收增長為33%。
Some startups will be insulated from the shock.
一些初創企業將不會受到沖擊。
Software firms, for example, tend to boast large gross margins, often around 70% for smaller companies.
例如，軟件公司往往擁有很高的毛利率，小公司的毛利率通常在70%左右。
This can provide a buffer against a downturn.
這可以在經濟低迷期起到緩沖作用。
Thanks to last year's bumper fundraising, many startups of all sorts have healthy balance-sheets and may not need to raise capital for several years.
多虧了去年豐厚的融資，許多各類初創公司都擁有健康的資產負債表，可能在幾年內都不需要融資。
“I have so much money I don't know what to do with it,” the boss of one told The Economist earlier this year after a multibillion-dollar round.
今年早些時候，在完成一輪數十億美元的融資之后，一家公司的老板告訴《經濟學人》：“我現在有太多錢了，都不知道怎么花。”
And superstar companies, such as Stripe, a payments unicorn valued last year at $95bn, are so adored by venture capitalists that they will probably be able to raise money even in harsh environments.
而超級明星公司，比如去年估值950億美元支付獨角獸公司Stripe，深受風險投資家的青睞，以至于它們很可能在惡劣的環境下也能籌集到資金。
Indeed, VC firms insist that falling valuations across the industry do not affect their returns, precisely because these ultimately come from a small number of big hits, not a big number of small ones.
事實上，風投公司堅持認為，整個行業的估值下降不會影響他們的回報，正是因為回報最終來自少數大公司，而不是多數小公司。
Perhaps.
或許是這樣。
Some investors are nonetheless rethinking their strategies.
盡管如此，一些投資者仍在重新考慮自己的策略。
Younger firms, which are further from listing and so are less likely to be hurt by the turbulence in public markets, are in favour.
較年輕的公司，由于離上市更遠，因此受到公開市場動蕩影響的可能性較小，則更受青睞。
In the past quarter deal size has continued to grow for striplings, while the median deal for late-stage firms has shrunk from $50m last year to $40m.
上個季度，新興公司的交易規模繼續增長，而處于發展后期階段的公司的交易量中值已從去年的5000萬美元降至4000萬美元。
Startups, too, are adapting.
初創企業也在調整適應。
Mr Haslett reports a surge of chief financial officers asking for help in arranging the sale of employees' shares in secondary markets.
哈斯萊特表示，請求幫助安排在二級市場出售員工股份的首席財務官人數激增。
These shares may fetch less than if their owners had waited for their employer to go public.
這些股票的價格可能低于其所有者等到其雇主上市時的價格。
But that may be a long wait.
但這可能是一個漫長的等待。
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