FANTASTIC BEASTS roam(漫步，漫游) Silicon Valley. Locals are familiar with the unicorn, a startup valued at more than $1bn, the decacorn(十角兽（估值100亿美元）) ($10bn) and even the hectocorn(百角兽（估值1000亿美元）) ($100bn). Lately, however, another creature has been stalking(潜行，追踪) the land: the “zombie” unicorn, a firm once worth $1bn-plus but now a mere shadow of its former self(今非昔比，只有昔日影子). Their spread is keeping venture capitalists (VCs) awake at night.
奇幻生物游荡在硅谷。当地人对独角兽（估值超过10亿美元的初创公司）、十角兽（100亿美元）甚至百角兽（1000亿美元）都很熟悉。然而，近来另一种生物正在这片土地上潜伏：“僵尸”独角兽——一家曾经价值超过10亿美元的公司，如今只是昔日辉煌的影子。它们的扩散让风险投资家们夜不能寐。
By May 2026, 332 of the 1,900 unicorns in a database maintained by Ilya Strebulaev(伊利亚·斯特雷布拉耶夫) of Stanford University had raised money at a valuation at or below their peak(在峰值或低于峰值时) (see chart). Of those, 212 were valued at under $1bn. As many as 383 had disclosed no new funding in the previous three years; 41 of these had lost unicorn status. As Mr Strebulaev points out, data on startups are notoriously(臭名昭著地，众所周知地) noisy(充满噪声的，不精确的). Some unicorns may have raised no money because they did not need it. But others may be struggling to justify(证明……正当，为……辩护) earlier mythical(神话般的，虚构的) valuations. A growing number of unicorns appear to have joined the ranks of the undead(加入不死者的行列).
截至2026年5月，斯坦福大学的Ilya Strebulaev维护的数据库中，1900家独角兽中有332家以等于或低于峰值的估值进行了融资（见图表）。其中212家估值不到10亿美元。多达383家在过去三年中未披露任何新融资；其中41家已失去独角兽地位。正如Strebulaev先生所指出的，初创企业的数据是出了名的杂乱。一些独角兽可能因为不需要资金而没融资，但另一些可能难以证明其早期神话般的估值合理。越来越多的独角兽似乎加入了不死者的行列。
When unicorn-spotting(寻找独角兽（投资机会）) was at its height, plenty of those startups had scant(不足的，少量的) revenue and sketchy(粗略的，不完整的) business plans. Low interest rates encouraged investors searching for better returns to hand fistfuls of money(大把钞票) to VC funds. In 2022 VCs raised a total of $223bn, according to Pitchbook(数据提供商Pitchbook), a data provider. Interest rates have since risen and fundraising has plunged(骤降，猛跌), to a mere $66bn last year.
当独角兽猎寻达到顶峰时，许多这类初创公司收入微薄、商业计划粗糙。低利率鼓励寻求更好回报的投资者将大把资金交给风投基金。根据数据提供商Pitchbook的数据，2022年风投基金共筹集了2230亿美元。此后利率上升，融资额骤降至去年仅660亿美元。