Venture capitalists have spent years aggressively buying stakes in cash-burning technology startups, valuing more than 1,000 of them at at least $1 billion apiece, even though many remained far from turning a profit. Now the cratering share prices of mature tech companies have dimmed the prospects for startups that were working toward their own initial public offerings. This has led venture investors to slow their pace of writing checks—and led startups to take on increasing amounts of debt. READ MORE