Horns Of Plenty: Unicorns, Narwhals & The Changing Company Valuation Landscape
Webinar
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Background: The term unicorn to describe a private technology company with a valuation of more than $1 billion has become a common currency since it was first coined by Aileen Lee, founder of Cowboy Ventures. Unicorns have even become a symbol of national achievement with politicians [Rishi Sunak] vowing to transform the UK from a United Kingdom to a Unicorn Kingdom in 2023.
There has been a surge in the number of unicorns over the past decade with valuations pumped by more than a decade of cheap money. But recent geopolitical crises and rising inflation and interest rates have exposed the rampant overvaluation of some unicorns. The collective noun for unicorns is a blessing: now many investors might consider them a curse.
Frontier IP Chief Executive Officer Neil Crabb outlines the perils to investors of ignoring fundamental valuation metrics and explains the company’s approach to building companies, the factors needed to achieve outstanding success and what narwhals can teach us that unicorns can’t.
Speaker:
Neil Crabb is Chief Executive Officer and founder of Frontier IP Group plc. The company, quoted on the London Stock Exchange, aims to create high-value businesses from deep technology developed by scientists and engineers. Its innovative and capital efficient business model sees the company take equity stakes at a very early stage, usually at incorporation, and then provide hands-on services and expertise to build them up. The portfolio currently consists of 19 high-tech companies at varying stages of development. Successes to date include Exscientia, a world leader in AI-driven drug discovery, which floated on Nasdaq with a market value of $2.9 billion in 2021.
Neil also mentors AI companies as part of a programme out of the University of Oxford, is an adviser to Research England, and sits on the board of several of Frontier IP’s portfolio companies.
