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Why the worry? It is just that the private equity markets have developed well enough to make IPOs unnecessary for the vast majority of even very successful companies. Why IPO if billion (ok, at least centimillion) dollar VC rounds became the norm?

Only the hugest successful startups may find private markets too constraining in this environment.

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VC are not donating money. They are investing. In order for them to be successful, there must be a return on their investment.

This means that either companies need to be acquired, or they need to go public. If someone is investing a billion dollars, you'd want to be acquired for 10+ billion in order to have been a good investment. I think this makes IPO a more likely outcome at those investment levels.

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