What is valuation markdown for startups?

Unlike public companies, valuations of private companies do not change on a daily basis as shares of these companies do not change hands daily. So investors regularly gauge private companies on their businesses, growth abilities, and macro environment to identify their ‘true’ value if they were to be sold today. Investors may thus mark down valuations of their portfolio companies internally, if they feel the company would be sold for a smaller amount compared to its valuation as of the last fundraise. The decision to do so may not depend on a single factor and could be a combination of many. For instance, IPO-bound hospitality unicorn Oyo’s valuation was reportedly marked down by its biggest investor--SoftBank--internally by 20 percent even after the company reported positive growth for recent quarters.