Comment by jcfrei

I didn't see it mentioned in the article but I think it's an important factor: The massive intervention by the BoJ in the corporate bond market of Japan. The BoJ is even buying bonds with negative yield. There's just so much Yen printed by the BoJ it's no surprise that some of it ends up in a venture capital fund, driving up valuations of startups around the globe. After all this is what everyone is warning about: Zero or even negative interest rates will distort valuations and capital allocation.