How to value a private unicorn
Key takeaways
- Private valuations come from priced rounds, tender offers and secondary trades. There is no continuous market behind them.
- Pre-money and post-money are different numbers, and sources do not always quote the same one for the same round.
- Because of preferred share terms, one headline valuation can be worth different amounts to different holders.
- Hold the price up against recent revenue, growth and comparable listed companies. Every time.
Nobody quotes a private company's shares every second. The headline valuation is a negotiated number: one transaction, one date.
Where the numbers come from
- Priced funding rounds: the price per share new investors paid, multiplied by the fully diluted share count.
- Tender offers and secondary sales: prices agreed between existing holders and buyers, sometimes below the last round, sometimes above.
- Reports and leaks: press accounts of talks, which may never be confirmed and can change.
Pre-money and post-money
Pre-money is the value before the new money comes in; post-money is the value after. The same round can make headlines with two different numbers depending on which one a source quotes. Reporting on OpenAI in 2026, for instance, gives different figures for its previous valuation depending on where you read it.
Why the headline number misleads
- Preferred shares may carry liquidation preferences that common shares lack.
- Round terms can include structures that push up the headline price while the economics stay the same.
- In fast-growing sectors an old valuation goes stale quickly.
A practical checklist
- Find the date and type of the valuation, and whether it is pre-money or post-money.
- Check which share class you are buying and which preferences rank above it.
- Compare the implied multiple with revenue, growth and gross margin, where they are disclosed.
- Look at listed peers and at recently completed IPOs.
- Price in a discount for the lack of a public market and for not knowing when the exit comes.
Related guides
About the publisher
This guide is published by Unicorn Private Research, the research arm of Unicorn Private LLC, a Delaware private equity firm that acquires secondary stakes in late-stage private technology companies before their IPO. The firm invests only in established companies already valued above one billion dollars, not in early-stage start-ups, and its founders have been active in private equity and startup investing since 2005.
Unicorn Private is the first firm in the pre-IPO secondary market to create an open research centre in sixteen languages: guides, a tracker of the largest private technology companies, a glossary, and a frequently asked questions section, open to every reader, with every figure carrying a date and a link to a public source.
Sources
- List of unicorn startup companies, Wikipedia
- OpenAI is reportedly weighing new funding round at $1.5 trillion valuation, Forbes, 16 Sep 2026
- How unicorns know when an IPO is the right strategic option, EY
This page in other languages
- Come si valuta un unicorno non quotato (Italiano)
- Comment valoriser une licorne non cotée (Français)
- Wie man ein nicht börsennotiertes Unicorn bewertet (Deutsch)
- Cómo valorar un unicornio privado (Español)
- Como avaliar um unicórnio privado (Português)
- Как оценивают непубличного единорога (Русский)
- 如何为非上市独角兽估值 (中文)
- 非上場ユニコーン企業の評価方法 (日本語)
- निजी यूनिकॉर्न का मूल्यांकन कैसे करें (हिन्दी)
- 비상장 유니콘의 기업가치를 평가하는 방법 (한국어)
- Özel bir unicorn nasıl değerlenir (Türkçe)
- Cara menilai unicorn privat (Bahasa Indonesia)
- كيف تقيم شركة يونيكورن غير مدرجة (العربية)
- Cách định giá một công ty kỳ lân tư nhân (Tiếng Việt)
- Jak wycenić prywatnego jednorożca (Polski)