The past 15 years have seen the emergence of large infusions of private capital at levels previously accessible only in public markets. One direct effect of these non‐public fundraisings is the spawning of private entities with market valuations reaching $1 billion, thereby achieving the status of unicorns. As the authors reported in an earlier study, by the end of 2015, there were 142 unicorns with an aggregate value exceeding $500 billion. The conviction of many investors and managers at that time was that these companies could best create value by staying private, often by adopting governance structures focused on creating superior operating performance. It was also widely believed that unicorns would remain outside the public markets longer and succeed in attracting even more private capital, thereby enabling their investors to capture a greater share of the increase in company value.

中文翻译：

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独角兽的祝福：私人公司市场的变化

在过去的15年中，出现了大规模的私人资本注入，这种注入以前只能在公共市场上获得。这些非公开募款的直接影响是催生了市值达到10亿美元的私人实体，从而达到了独角兽的地位。正如作者在较早的研究中所报告的那样，到2015年底，共有142家独角兽公司，总价值超过5,000亿美元。当时，许多投资者和管理者坚信，这些公司可以通过保持私有化来最好地创造价值，通常是采用专注于创造卓越运营绩效的治理结构。人们还普遍认为，独角兽将在公共市场之外停留更长的时间，并成功吸引了更多的私人资本，