Adobe’s record-breaking $20bn purchase of design software company Figma is the biggest acquisition of a venture capital-backed US company in history. Profit-less, fast-growing, start-up deals agreed at high-altitude revenue multiples are common in the tech sector. What is unusual is that this one comes in the wake of a sweeping downgrade in tech stock valuations.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq index is down 29 per cent from a record high in November. Yet the reset in valuations has not fully fed through to the private sector. The most valuable listed tech companies all trade below last year’s highs. Yet some private companies are negotiating higher valuations. Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, for example, raised money at a $127bn valuation in May, up from $100bn last year. VCs have put millions of dollars behind ousted WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann’s latest venture.

Venture funds are sitting on billions of dollars of funds. There is appetite for disruptive technology. Companies that have reached late-stage funding rounds in particular are able to negotiate follow-up deals.