Why do you say pre-2020? 2020-2021 were the easiest times ever for funding with a lot of money-printing and zero rates (unlike 2018-2019!). Only in 2022 things started to get worse, and ground to a halt, at least for everyone outside of the AI bubble, from 2023. Now all who i know who are still operating, do so simply with the money raised before. Companies are going belly up left and right simply because that money runs out.