Because they are private we often can't see the books, and the bits of the books that get out are not entirely reflective of the entire picture (if you know wha

Because they are private we often can't see the books, and the bits of the books that get out are not entirely reflective of the entire picture (if you know what I mean, nudge nudge great runner sir!) However, my guess is that most of these companies are not actually profitable, and that most of them have business plans that require significant investments to make them profitable in the future. I think that most of them have a strategy that aims to "win" in the short term by dominating their categories and then to build out a business that capitalizes on their success, reaping profit in the future. If so they are in trouble in that they are going to need lots more cash before they deliver profits. New providers of cash hold all the cards because if the current shareholders don't get that cash into the business then their stake is worth nothing. If the new providers of cash are the current investors then they need to squeeze hard to justify doubling down on the risk (most of them simply won't do this, but some of the funds with very deep pockets have histories of doing this with some assets)