Unity

Unity Software Inc., which does business as Unity Technologies, develops the Unity engine used to build video games and other real-time 3D applications, along with advertising and monetization tools for mobile game developers. David Helgason, Nicholas Francis and Joachim Ante founded it in Copenhagen on August 2, 2004 as Over the Edge I/S. After their first game, GooBall, failed commercially, they turned the tools they had built into a licensed engine. The company is now based in San Francisco. John Riccitiello replaced Helgason as CEO in 2014.

Unity's 2020 prospectus records Series A through Series E preferred stock. Roelof Botha of Sequoia Capital joined the board as the Series A designee, and Barry Schuler of DFJ as the Series C designee. Egon Durban of Silver Lake represented the Series D holders. As reported by Wikipedia, a $181 million round in July 2016 valued the company at about $1.5 billion, a $400 million raise in May 2017 valued it at $2.8 billion, and a 2018 round of $145 million put it at about $3 billion. From May 2019 through April 2020 Unity sold $275.0 million of Series E preferred at $22.00 per share and $100.0 million of common stock at $20.00, with Sequoia, Silver Lake and DFJ among the buyers. In 2019 it also arranged a $525 million tender for common holders funded with D1 Capital Partners, CPP Investment Board, Light Street Capital, Sequoia and Silver Lake.

Unity priced its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange at $52.00 per share in September 2020, raising about $1.3 billion at an estimated $13.7 billion valuation, and trades under the ticker U. Before the offering Sequoia entities held 24.1% of the stock, Silver Lake 18.2%, Helgason's holding company JA Technologies 8.0% and D1 Capital Partners 5.3%. The company bought ironSource in an all-stock deal valued at $4.4 billion in November 2022. Its market value peaked near $57 billion in November 2021 and later fell sharply after the 2023 Runtime Fee controversy and Riccitiello's departure. Unity reported revenue of $1.85 billion and a net loss of $402.8 million for 2025.

Unity is a long-hold venture outcome. Sequoia entered at the Series A and stayed the largest holder at the IPO, 16 years after founding. Late investors bought into a business that had lost money every year since 2004. The run from a $1.5 billion private valuation in 2016 to a $57 billion public peak, followed by the reversal, shows how much the value of public stock depends on when holders sell.