[
 {
  "name": "Olive",
  "desc": "Olive offered healthcare AI solutions that automated key tasks like prior authorization approvals and clinical analysis for surgeries. It consistently drew fresh capital over its lifetime, raising a new round nearly every year following its founding in 2012. However, the combination of challenging economic conditions, evolving customer expectations, and management missteps led the company to sell off its core assets and shut down.",
  "funding": "$850M",
  "peak": "$4B"
 },
 {
  "name": "Convoy",
  "desc": "Convoy operated a digital freight network that attracted investors like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. However, the company \u2014 run by executives without trucking experience \u2014 struggled to transform its intentionally money-losing model into a profitable business. Its financial challenges were only exacerbated by a downturn in shipping demand \u2014 and the concurrent contraction in the venture capital market left it without a means to raise cash, leading to its closure.",
  "funding": "$836M",
  "peak": "$3.8B"
 },
 {
  "name": "Hyperloop One",
  "desc": "Hyperloop One\u2019s mission was to develop a high-speed transportation system that could propel passengers at speeds up to 760 miles per hour, and it initially garnered significant investor backing from strategic partners aligned with its vision. Despite raising millions of dollars from these investors, it ultimately failed to overcome technical and regulatory obstacles, resulting in its shutdown.",
  "funding": "$472M",
  "peak": "$700M"
 },
 {
  "name": "InVision",
  "desc": "InVision was a collaborative product design platform. It raised several funding rounds over its 13-year run, including a $115M Series F round at a $1.9B valuation in 2018. However, following that Series F round, InVision did not raise a single disclosed equity round. Some of its users indicated that the company allowed its products to grow stale, enabling competitors like Figma to get ahead over time. In January 2024, the startup announced that it would discontinue its design collaboration services by the end of the year.",
  "funding": "$350M",
  "peak": "$1.9B"
 },
 {
  "name": "Ghost Autonomy",
  "desc": "Ghost Autonomy was a developer of autonomous driving software initially focused on supporting highway navigation for passenger vehicles. The company pivoted multiple times over the years, but it struggled to commercialize its products successfully despite raising substantial funding. Ultimately, the company indicated it didn\u2019t see a path to securing the long-term investment it needed to continue developing and eventually commercialize its autonomous driving solutions.",
  "funding": "$239M",
  "peak": "$518M"
 },
 {
  "name": "Zeus Living",
  "desc": "Zeus Living leased and furnished properties to sublet them to corporate employees interested in extended stays. The startup\u2019s valuation was hit hard as business dried up at the start of the pandemic, but the company stayed afloat by switching its focus to healthcare workers and remote employees. However, rising interest rates increased the cost of home buying, preventing Zeus Living from generating sufficient revenue on its property investments.",
  "funding": "$139M",
  "peak": "$205M"
 },
 {
  "name": "Avail",
  "desc": "Avail developed technologies that enabled clinicians to communicate with parties outside the operating room, such as medical device sales reps and medical advisors. Its offering rapidly gained momentum as ORs rushed to adapt to social distancing protocols amid the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the startup struggled to raise fresh capital as pandemic-era restrictions were lifted and ORs returned to normal, forcing it to close in November 2023. In March 2024, surgical robotics startup Mendaera acquired Avail\u2019s telepresence technology.",
  "funding": "$138M",
  "peak": "$290M"
 },
 {
  "name": "Superpedestrian",
  "desc": "Superpedestrian was a transportation robotics startup focused on micromobility devices like electric scooters. The company raised several funding rounds following its founding in 2012, drawing support from prominent institutional and individual investors. However, Superpedestrian ran into several challenges, including city regulations, compliance costs, a lack of marketing, and ultimately, financial strain. The company sought an exit via M&A, but the deal fell through, forcing it to close.",
  "funding": "$118M",
  "peak": "$560M"
 },
 {
  "name": "Phantom Auto",
  "desc": "Remote driving startup Phantom Auto started out supporting autonomous vehicles on public roads, such as robotaxis and self-driving trucks. Following a pivot to logistics, the company gained traction. However, its ability to scale remained contingent upon external funding sources, putting it in a vulnerable position as funding dried up amid the venture slowdown. Unable to close a new funding round, the company was forced to shutter its operations.",
  "funding": "$86M",
  "peak": "$525M"
 },
 {
  "name": "Walking Fish Therapeutics",
  "desc": "Walking Fish Therapeutics was focused on the development of B-cell-based therapies. It raised nearly $75M in pursuit of its mission to treat Fabry disease and other conditions. The company was in the process of raising a Series B round to kickstart clinical trials when one of its investors pulled out over real estate debt concerns. Unable to replace the investor and complete the round, the startup closed down and considered selling its therapeutic assets.",
  "funding": "$73M",
  "peak": "$102M"
 },
 {
  "name": "Koyo",
  "desc": "Digital lending startup Koyo closed its doors in July. Following its founding in 2018, it secured nearly $11M in disclosed equity funding and $167M in debt financing. However, it was unable to secure fresh capital amid broader economic turbulence. As a result, it was forced to shut down and transfer the management of existing loans to credit solutions company Capquest.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Intergalactic Therapeutics",
  "desc": "Intergalactic Therapeutics said farewell at the beginning of August, marking the end of its rather short lifespan. The startup \u2014 founded by former Biogen exec Michael Ehlers in 2020 \u2014 was focused on an alternative gene therapy approach. Rather than opting for viral delivery, Intergalactic turned to electroporation (i.e., the use of an electric pulse to drive pore formation) as its delivery method of choice. While its approach attracted $75M in funding, that was not enough to keep it going. It was not able to secure additional funding, with former employees citing the harsh fundraising environment as driving its closure.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Multichain",
  "desc": "Cross-chain router protocol Multichain closed down in July. A year after it was founded, the company raised $60M in a seed round led by Binance Ventures. At the time of its seed round, the company boasted a user base of 300K and a Total Value Locked of $5B. However, in May 2023, Multichain CEO Zhaojun was reportedly taken from his home by Chinese police. Months of uncertainty passed, during which time Multichain employees could not access the company\u2019s servers and operational funds. As a result, the company was ultimately forced to shutter operations.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Recur",
  "desc": "NFT (non-fungible token) platform Recur closed up shop in August. The startup allowed corporate brands like Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon to create NFT experiences for their customers. Its backers included a mix of investors and angels like ConsenSys co-founder Joseph Lubin, Resy co-founder Gary Vaynerchuk, and recording artist Jason Derulo. In its founding year (2021), it raised $55M in equity funding and reached a $333M valuation. However, that was the first and last time the startup raised capital. About 2 years after its Series A raise, the company announced its closure, citing \u201cunforeseen challenges and shifts in the business landscape\u201d as contributing factors.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Casai",
  "desc": "Casai folded at the end of July. The Mexico-based proptech raised $28M in equity funding from 2020 to 2022, drawing the participation of investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Global Founders Capital, and Monashees+. It also secured $25M in debt financing from TriplePoint Capital. However, the company laid off dozens of employees in 2022 and eventually shut down operations in Brazil at the start of 2023. In an announcement on LinkedIn, Casai founder and CEO Nico Barawid highlighted the harsh funding environment and an unfavorable business model as driving the decision to close:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "XACT Robotics",
  "desc": "XACT Robotics \u2014 a medical robotics startup \u2014 shut down at the start of September. The company was focused on the development of autonomous robots that enabled hands-free surgical procedures. Its technology showed promise, receiving FDA approval in 2019 and drawing millions of dollars over 4 funding rounds. However, it ultimately could not generate sufficient revenue. This, in combination with the inability to raise capital and a failed acquisition play, spelled the end for XACT.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "54gene",
  "desc": "Genomics startup 54gene initiated its closure in July and appeared to be fully closed by September. In its early years, the company participated in Google-run accelerator programs and raised $45M in equity funding. However, things took a turn for the worse last year. The capital-intensive nature of the business coupled with financial mismanagement and executive turnover left the company without funding. In the face of its financial challenges, it started to wind down and moved to sell off its key assets, including its biobank, i.e., biological samples used for research. However, these efforts were complicated by ongoing legal issues involving former company executives.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Fronted",
  "desc": "Digital lending startup Fronted closed its doors in August. The company \u2014 founded by former Apple and Monzo executives \u2014 focused on providing deposit loans to renters. It drew over $25M in a mix of equity and debt financing to back its loans. Its go-to-market plans were disrupted by a jump in capital costs at the end of 2022. As a result, the company was forced to charge more than double the originally planned product price, quashing consumer willingness to purchase.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Resson",
  "desc": "Resson \u2014 a Canada-based associate firm of India-based auto manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra \u2014 closed down in September. The agtech\u2019s solution brought together drones, data analytics, sensor tech, and robotic platforms to support crop management for growers. The company got its start participating in Nvidia\u2019s Inception Program, which offers resources to support product development and growth. Despite bringing in $25M in funding and achieving a $52M valuation, it was abruptly shut down. Its dissolution came as a surprise, with some speculating that diplomatic tension between India and Canada played a contributing role.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "BAKX Therapeutics",
  "desc": "BAKX Therapeutics \u2014 a biotech focused on cancer therapies \u2014 shut down at the beginning of July. The startup was founded by former Pfizer head of strategic partnerships Sree Kant and raised $25M in Series A funding from AB Magnitude Ventures, Ipsen, and Sherpa Venture Capital. Ipsen also entered into a partnership with BAKX to support the pre-clinical development of its lead candidate. However, just 3 years after its founding, the company dissolved. Several factors were cited as driving the decision, including scientific challenges and a difficult funding environment.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Zume",
  "desc": "Softbank-backed Zume shut down in June 2023, after 8 years in business. The startup initially drew $446M to disrupt the pizza industry \u2014 the plan was to equip delivery trucks with robotic pizza-makers and smart ovens so that pizzas could be cooked to order while en route to customers. However, the startup ran into a number of technological issues, like cheese sliding off pizzas, and burned through cash faster than it could generate revenue. After pivoting to sustainable packaging development in 2020, it did not raise any additional funding and eventually closed its doors.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "IRL",
  "desc": "IRL \u2014 an event discovery and planning app \u2014 closed at the end of June 2023. The company raised around $200M over multiple rounds and even hit unicorn status in 2021. After tripling its headcount, the startup laid off 25% of its workforce in 2022 \u2014 and the startup\u2019s troubles only intensified. An SEC probe and internal investigation revealed that 95% of the app\u2019s 20M active users were fake, leading the company to shut down for good.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Vedere Bio II",
  "desc": "Ocular gene therapeutics startup Vedere Bio II said goodbye in April 2023. The company raised $77M in its effort to slow down vision loss as well as restore eyesight for those affected by genetic and non-genetic conditions. While it experienced early success with mouse models, the preclinical data did not meet the desired efficacy criteria, leading to the decision to close down the company.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Fuzzy",
  "desc": "Pet healthcare company Fuzzy closed up shop in June 2023. The startup\u2019s offering was broad, consisting of telehealth services, prescription delivery, an e-commerce marketplace, and educational content and programs. While the company raised a $44M Series C in November 2021, it reportedly ran up against financial mismanagement, leaving it unable to pay employees and vendors. News of the startup\u2019s closure was confirmed by employees on Twitter.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Buzzer",
  "desc": "Mobile live sports streaming startup Buzzer shut down its consumer app at the end of June 2023. The company \u2014 backed by sports stars like Michael Jordan, Naomi Osaka, and Wayne Gretsky \u2014 enabled fans to stream short-form clips from sporting events for 99 cents. Driven by changing consumer demands and market constraints, the company decided to shut down its mobile app and move toward licensing its technology to other streamers instead. However, the shift was ultimately unsuccessful.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Cana One",
  "desc": "Molecular beverage printer startup Cana closed down operations in May 2023. The company\u2019s product, the Cana One, was designed to produce beverages based on users\u2019 specific preferences \u2014 such as low-sugar iced tea or low-alcohol mimosas. Cana One\u2019s promise drew the eyes of investors and brand partners \u2014 Cana secured a $30M seed round in 2022 and landed Patrick Stewart as a brand ambassador earlier this year. However, Cana was reportedly unable to secure the funding it needed to manufacture and ship the devices.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Wyre",
  "desc": "Cryptocurrency infrastructure platform Wyre announced that it was winding down in June 2023. Founded in 2017, the startup raised $28M as the crypto space heated up. Its momentum culminated in April 2022, when payments company Bolt Financial agreed to acquire the startup for $1.5B to build digital checkout solutions. However, Bolt scrapped the deal the following September. Since then, the crypto market has seen a number of high-profile bankruptcies and a regulatory crackdown \u2014 though Wyre cited market conditions, rather than regulatory pressure, as driving its decision to close.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Summation Bio",
  "desc": "Gene therapy biotech Summation Bio closed down at the beginning of June 2023. The company raised around $25M on its quest to develop non-viral gene therapies for a wide variety of diseases. Ultimately, research and development efforts revealed that the company\u2019s therapies wouldn\u2019t work as expected, leading it to close its doors.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Seeker Biologics",
  "desc": "Seeker Biologics \u2014 a 5AM Venture spinoff focused on biologics for autoimmune, allergic, and inflammatory diseases \u2014 shuttered operations in April 2023. The company, formerly known as Fleet Therapeutics, initially raised $24M at a $74M valuation in 2021. However, the company fell short of its drug discovery goals. While specific reasons beyond the decision were not disclosed, former employees shed some light on what happened behind the scenes.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Tessera, Escher",
  "desc": "NFT trading platform Tessera said farewell in May 2023, after raising $22M from Paradigm and other investors. In a Tweet announcing the closure, Tessera co-founder Andy Chorlian identified the company\u2019s structure and financial situation as factoring into the decision. He also stated that Tessera would also be shutting down Escher \u2014 a digital fine art marketplace project in its portfolio. Chorlian shared that the company simply didn\u2019t have the time and resources to scale Escher to the point of profitability.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Mandolin",
  "desc": "Mandolin \u2014 a platform for live streaming concerts \u2014 took a bow in April 2023. The company was founded at the start of the pandemic, finding initial success as it filled the live entertainment gap during lockdowns. As pandemic restrictions eased and in-person shows resumed, the startup diversified its offering to stay relevant. It launched a number of digital services to complement the concert experience, including ticket sales, food and merch ordering, and meet-and-greets. However, the company announced its closure just one year later.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Goldfinch Bio",
  "desc": "Goldfinch Bio \u2014 a biotech focused on kidney treatment \u2014 closed its doors at the end of January 2023. The company showed promise in its earlier days, securing $100M in Series B funding back in 2020. However, Goldfinch faced a number of difficulties in the years that followed. For example, one of its clinical trials generated disappointing results last year and was ultimately canceled. These challenges were compounded by broader macroeconomic pressures, making it difficult for the startup to secure additional funding.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Mindstrong",
  "desc": "Mental health treatment platform Mindstrong fully shut down at the end of March. While the company pivoted a few times over the years, it still managed to attract $160M from its founding in 2017 to 2020, when it achieved a unicorn ($1B+) valuation. Despite its fundraising efforts, it was not able to stay afloat. At the start of February, the company announced it would cease clinical services the following month and laid off more than 100 employees, including most of its C-Suite. Its full closure was marked by the sale of its technology assets and transfer of its remaining tech workforce to mental health tech company SonderMind at the end of March. Reports indicated that the company likely struggled with the macroeconomic challenges and funding slowdown faced by its other peers in the digital health space.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Aristea Therapeutics",
  "desc": "Inflammation-focused biotech Aristea Therapeutics closed its doors in February. The company raised nearly $80M following its spinout from AstraZeneca, and its lead development program just entered Phase 2 clinical trials last November. However, in February, the company abruptly announced that it would be discontinuing the program, citing safety concerns that came to light while testing.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "CODA Biotherapeutics",
  "desc": "In another blow to the biotech space, CODA Biotherapeutics \u2014 a gene therapy startup \u2014 said goodbye at the beginning of March. The company had been working on treatments for neurological diseases, like focal epilepsy, drawing funding from pharma companies, biotech VCs, and government agencies. While CODA did not publicly comment on the news of its closure, investors MPM Capital and Versant Ventures reportedly confirmed that the company had indeed closed down. The reasons driving its decision were not disclosed, however, many of its biotech peers were publicly struggling to adapt to a slowdown in venture funding.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Tascent",
  "desc": "Biometric authentication startup Tascent shut down in March. Founded in 2014, the company was able to quickly attract big customers, like major airports and high-security facilities, and draw the attention of investors. One year after its founding, the company raised a $19M Series A round and then went on to raise $20M in Series B funding in 2018. Despite its early momentum, the company was unable to keep going. Tascent founder Alastair Partington alluded to some of the challenges the company might have faced in a recent blog post, including the difficulty of finding suppliers to support scaling manufacturing processes:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "New Age Meats",
  "desc": "New Age Meats \u2014 a cultivated meat startup \u2014 ceased operations at the end of March. Following its launch in 2017, the company made significant strides toward developing an alternative pork product and raised $32M in funding across a number of deals. However, it hit a financial rough patch after its latest round (Series A, 2021). The company took a gamble on building a pilot facility despite its alternative meat product not being ready for commercial production. After abandoning the facility and laying off employees, the company ran low on capital and high on debt, which ultimately forced it to shut down.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Food Rocket",
  "desc": "Continuing a recent startup failure trend, ultrafast delivery company Food Rocket shut down in March. Similar to the other rapid delivery startups in this report (e.g., Curb Food, Zero Grocery), Food Rocket struggled to raise enough capital to keep up with its intense burn rate. The company\u2019s CEO cited economic challenges and turbulence in the venture arena as factors contributing to its downfall. Other rapid delivery companies, like Gopuff and Deliveroo, have recently announced layoffs, underscoring the weight of economic pressures on a business model that is high-cost and dependent on consumer spending.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Clim8",
  "desc": "Sustainable investment app Clim8 shut down at the end of March. The company was focused on helping retail consumers invest in companies and funds working to combat the climate crisis. Despite securing $20M in funding over a number of early-stage rounds, the startup was unable to continue bringing in new capital. Clim8 pointed to challenges like inflation and the venture investor pullback as inhibiting its ability to gain access to fresh funding.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "TenureX",
  "desc": "Correspondent banking platform TenureX closed at the beginning of February. While the company said it had established product-market fit, it wasn\u2019t enough to keep it from going under. In addressing the closure, the company\u2019s CEO and co-founder highlighted macroeconomic challenges and fundraising difficulties as key challenges:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Formfunction",
  "desc": "Solana NFT marketplace Formfunction announced its closure in the middle of March, a little over a year after it was founded. While the startup did not comment on the reasons driving its decision, poor Solana NFT market performance and a drop in the price of Solana\u2019s cryptocurrency (SOL) likely weighed heavily on the startup over the course of its relatively short lifetime.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Argo AI",
  "desc": "Autonomous vehicle startup Argo AI shut down at the end of October. Having just launched a suite of commercial delivery and robotaxi solutions the month prior, the news came as a surprise to many that had been watching Argo\u2019s rise to prominence. In 2017, just a year after it was founded, the company emerged from stealth with a $1B capital commitment from Ford. Two years later, it entered the unicorn club with a $7.3B valuation. In the time that followed, the company reportedly found it difficult to secure new investors amid slow progress toward the commercialization of autonomous driving technology. This led Ford and Volkswagen, its main backers, to shift their strategic focus away from the startup.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Faze Medicines",
  "desc": "Faze Medicines \u2014 a biotech startup focused on small molecule drug therapies \u2014 closed its doors at the beginning of November. The company initially maintained a focus on the development of treatments for ALS and other neurodegenerative disorders, and it then expanded to pursue cancer drug research. Despite its efforts, the drugs it developed never made their way to the clinical testing stage. And, unlike its competitors, it was not able to secure partnerships with major pharmaceutical firms. The lack of advancement led investors to pull back and the company to shutter.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Triplet Therapeutics",
  "desc": "In mid-October, reports indicated that Triplet Therapeutics, a biotech focused on repeat expansion disorders like Huntington\u2019s disease, was shutting down. Before it closed down operations, the startup had raised $59M in funding. This included $49M in Series A funding, provided in part by Pfizer, that the company planned to use to advance its development candidates and contribute to natural history studies that could be used to guide its clinical development plan. However, the lackluster performance of its peers\u2019 Huntington\u2019s disease trials and a broader downturn in funding to the biotech space made it more difficult for the company to secure additional funding.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Nuri",
  "desc": "Nuri \u2014 a crypto bank formerly known as Bitwala \u2014 also shuttered in the middle of October. At the time of its closure, the company had more than 500,000 customers, who were asked to withdraw their funds by mid-December. Kristina Walcker-Mayer, the company\u2019s CEO, cited the insolvency of one of its main business partners as well as macroeconomic and political complications as contributing to its downfall. While the startup initially entered into insolvency proceedings in an attempt to move forward through restructuring, it was not able to find new investors or a buyer.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "GloriFi",
  "desc": "GloriFi \u2014 a neobank for conservatives \u2014 closed down operations at the end of November. The company\u2019s unique positioning initially drew investor attention, and it even announced a $1.7B SPAC merger deal in July 2022. However, the startup ran into a number of issues related to product development, vendor disputes, and its workplace environment. In a statement on its website, the company cited startup missteps, economic challenges, reputation attacks, and negative media coverage as the driving forces behind its closure.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Fifth Season Collection",
  "desc": "October also saw the fall of vertical farming robotics startup Fifth Season Collection. The company\u2019s use of robotics tech to grow greens for salad kits sold at grocery stores attracted $35M in Series A funding from Drive Capital among others. While the company did not release a statement at the time of closure, reports suggested that the startup could have struggled to raise the capital needed to support its capital-heavy operating model amid economic turbulence.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "ProntoPiso",
  "desc": "ProntoPiso \u2014 a proptech startup \u2014 started the process of closing down in the middle of October. The startup started out as a digital real estate agency with a clear mandate: it would sell a client\u2019s property within 90 days (charging a nearly 7% commission) \u2014 otherwise, it would pay the owner 95% of the property\u2019s market value. It secured more than $5M in equity funding in its first couple of years of existence and then pivoted to function as a platform for real estate agents. However, the pandemic hit soon after, giving rise to challenges that the company ultimately could not overcome.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Kite",
  "desc": "AI-assisted coding startup Kite announced its closure in the middle of November. The startup, founded in 2014, was focused on leveraging AI to help developers write code and raised $21M in funding. However, a detailed account of the startup\u2019s demise written by the company\u2019s founder revealed 2 major factors that stood in the way of its success: the company hit the market too early and realized that its product would not monetize. In other words, a product that could help developers increase their code-writing speed by 18% wasn\u2019t something engineering managers felt compelled to buy. While the company considered pivoting to AI-powered code search, in the end, it decided to close up for good.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Curb Food",
  "desc": "Building on last year\u2019s series of food delivery startup failures, Curb Food shut down at the end of December. The company \u2014 run by co-founders with experience at Delivery Hero \u2014 operated a network of dark kitchens, i.e., locations that exclusively prepare food for delivery. From its founding in 2020 to 2021, the company brought in more than $28M in funding from investors including EQT Ventures and Point72 Ventures. However, its journey peaked in 2021 with its Series A round \u2014 a year-and-a-half later, it confirmed it would be closing down. CEO Carl Tengberg stated that the startup\u2019s capital-intensive model proved unsustainable amid poor capital market conditions.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Brodmann17",
  "desc": "Computer vision tech startup Brodmann17 shut down at the beginning of December. The company\u2019s goal was to create lightweight, software-based computer vision technology (free from traditional hardware requirements) that could support advanced driver assistance systems and ultimately compete with autonomous driving tech co Mobileye\u2019s solutions. While it raised more than $16M in pursuit of its goals, it found it difficult to raise fresh capital after its Series A round in 2019. Without a much-needed injection of funding, the company was forced to close its doors despite \u2014 per a statement by CEO Adi Pinhas \u2014 having proven the technology, seeing demand, and having customers in production.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "CommonBond",
  "desc": "In September, student loan lender CommonBond announced that it would be shutting down. The company had fared well before the pandemic, raising more than $1.1B as of 2019. But the refinance market took a massive hit over the 2 years that followed, and the pause on student loan payments zapped the demand for solutions like CommonBond\u2019s offering. While the company tried to pivot and expand into loans for folks that wanted to give home solar panels a go, it ultimately wasn\u2019t able to scale and raise new funding quickly enough to make it work.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Reali",
  "desc": "Reali, a real-estate marketplace, stated that it was going to shut down and lay off most of its employees at the start of September. The startup echoed many of its failed compatriots in citing the contributing factors to its demise: disastrous market conditions as well as an unfavorable capital-raising environment. Interestingly, Reali had experienced steady growth up until fairly recently \u2014 it raised a $100M funding round just over a year ago. Suffice to say, the onset of failure can happen very fast.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Quillion Tech",
  "desc": "Mid-way through Q3\u201922, Quillion Tech notified its employees that it would be closing shop. Up to that point, it had raised just shy of $180M for its energy-efficient CPU chips. It had also been hiring rapidly, issuing dozens of new offers to support growth. However, a hiring freeze in July was followed by its August announcement that it would be winding down operations. While the company agreed to pay employees their full salary in August, it stated that it would reduce that amount to the Shanghai minimum wage once September hit. For most employees, this amounted to 3%\u20135% of their original compensation. The reported reason driving Quillion\u2019s closure was a control rights disagreement among partners that crippled its ability to attain financing.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Kitty Hawk",
  "desc": "Flying car startup Kitty Hawk, founded by Sebastian Thrun, folded at the end of September. Thrun, who also co-founded Google\u2019s moonshot factory (X), had launched the startup with backing from Google co-founder Larry Page in 2010. He largely shielded its operations from the public eye until it revealed its vertical take-off-enabled Flyer aircraft in 2015. The company continuously shifted its product focus over the years that followed, shuttering the Flyer project and spinning off its other public project into a joint venture with Boeing. While the company seemed to go all in on the development of its electric, autonomous aircraft (Heaviside), progress was hindered by mounting competition in the space and internal tension between Thrun and Heaviside program lead Damon Vander Lind. The company has not provided details on the forces behind its decision, but reports allude to clouded mission focus as playing a role.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Bank North",
  "desc": "Neobank Bank North was forced to close at the beginning of October. The announcement came on the heels of its failure to raise the funding that it needed to obtain a full banking license from the Bank of England. Bank North was not unfamiliar with fundraising challenges, having been faced with a number of obstacles over the course of its 4-year lifespan. In addition to its past challenges, Bank North co-founder Richard Baker also pointed to mounting market uncertainty as factoring into the decision to shut down. Neobanks are no strangers to this running list of startup failures \u2014 in our last update, we covered the downfall of Bank North\u2019s Australian counterpart Volt.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Modsy",
  "desc": "In late June, interior design service provider Modsy stopped offering its services without warning. While its website remained active at the time, the company deleted its Facebook and Twitter profiles and privated its Instagram account in the weeks that followed. The shuttering of these channels made it difficult for customers with unfinished projects and unfulfilled orders to contact the fallen startup about refunds. More than 2 weeks after the company closed its doors and laid off its designers, former customers were still scrambling to attain what they were owed.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "SHOPX",
  "desc": "India-based e-commerce enablement startup ShopX closed down operations at the end of August. From its founding in 2016 through 2020, the startup raised nearly $48M to help local kirana store owners build their digital presence through the establishment of e-commerce operations. As it grew, it took out a number of loans from Singapore-based Fung Investment, which ironically ended up leading to its future failure. The company\u2019s faulty business model prevented it from generating the cash flow and funding required to pay off the interest on those loans, forcing it to file for insolvency and bankruptcy.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Bolt Mobility",
  "desc": "Bolt Mobility \u2014 the e-bike and scooter startup co-founded by Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt \u2014 closed up and disappeared at the end of July. It stopped operating in a number of the cities that it served, leaving public officials to deal with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of inoperable equipment that had been left behind. A number of its clients unsuccessfully reached out to the company to request information and assistance with equipment removal, with some reporting that emails to Bolt contacts and its CEO went unanswered. At the time, it wasn\u2019t clear if the startup had permanently halted operations in all of its locations, but mounting accounts of service shutoffs and continued silence on Bolt\u2019s part did not paint a promising picture. In a statement at the start of August, the company released a statement on its website explaining that its inability to raise necessary funding had led it to shutter operations.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Propzy",
  "desc": "Vietnam-based Propzy, a proptech startup, initiated its shutdown in mid-September. CEO John Le stated that the company had been hit hard by the pandemic and ultimately proved unable to recoup its losses in the face of continued lockdowns. Propzy had previously laid off 50% of its staff in June, but announced that it was still on track to raise fresh capital. This did not pan out, and its inability to raise new funding in conjunction with macro turbulence pressured the company to close its doors for good.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "B3i Services",
  "desc": "B3i was a provider of blockchain-backed reinsurance services formed by some of the biggest names in insurance and reinsurance: AIG, Allianz, and Swiss Re, to name a few. The company initially saw significant success, supporting the establishment of the world\u2019s first reinsurance contract using blockchain technology. It also raised $26M over a 2-year period. However, its inability to close a new funding round after its Series B raised in 2020 forced the consortium\u2019s participants to call it quits.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Wriggle",
  "desc": "Restaurant discovery app Wriggle shut down at the start of Q3\u201922. The platform aggregated local food and beverage deals for consumers as a way to help them save money and expand their horizons. While it started out in Bristol, it expanded into 7 cities across the United Kingdom before closing down in July. At that point, it had gained more than 400K downloads and $2M in funding. Company management pointed to pandemic lockdowns as irreparably stymieing its growth.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Airlift",
  "desc": "Pakistan-based Airlift \u2014 a ridesharing turned rapid delivery service \u2014 announced that it would be closing down operations in the middle of July. Despite raising an $85M Series B round in August 2021, which at the time seemed to signal a promising future for the country\u2019s burgeoning startup ecosystem, the company was unable to finalize the funding round it had planned for this year. Select investors reportedly notified the startup that it would take them more than 2 months to wire the new funding amid the turbulent economic environment, leading other investors to hold as well. As a result of this uncertainty-induced domino effect, the startup was forced to close, as it could not meet its funding requirements for continued operations.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Butler",
  "desc": "Despite sharing a message that it was still afloat in mid-May, on-demand virtual room service platform Butler had actually laid off its entire workforce of 1K employees a few days earlier. Reports later indicated that the company had indeed folded. The closure came as a surprise to its hotel client base, leaving many scrambling to find alternative options to cater to their guests. At the time, neither Butler CEO Premtim Gjonbalic nor the company\u2019s investors had commented on the matter, and the office that it had signed a 3-year sublease for had been abandoned after less than a year.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Kune",
  "desc": "Kenyan food delivery platform Kune closed down at the end of June, after the company ran out of money and could not find a buyer to save it. Like other food delivery startups that have watched their time come to an end, Kune struggled with low margins, an issue that was further exacerbated by rising food costs.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Volt Bank",
  "desc": "Australian neobank Volt Bank closed its virtual doors in June after failing to secure $200M in Series F funding. While the company had previously raised a total of $102M in funding, as was the case with many other startups covered in this post-mortem breakdown, the company lost fundraising momentum as the financial market downturn worsened. As a result of the closure, the company had to lay off its 140 employees, return $100M+ in deposits to customers, and give up its banking license.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Wingocard",
  "desc": "Wingocard, a personal finance platform for teenagers, launched in May 2021. At the time, it had more than 75K teens on its waitlist and was able to raise nearly $2M in seed funding. However, as the year came to a close, the company unsuccessfully sought out new investors to provide the fresh capital needed to keep it going, and eventually was forced to close down for good in May 2022.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "BeyondMinds",
  "desc": "In a scenario that is probably starting to sound familiar, AI-as-a-service platform BeyondMinds shut down in May after failing to raise funding or find a buyer. Last year, BeyondMinds co-founder and CEO Rotem Alaluf had been pressured to sell the company by investors wary of what was at the time a burgeoning market downturn. Instead of selling, Alaluf left the company and founded another (Wand.ai) with former BeyondMinds employees. Co-founder Roey Mechrez took hold of the reins, but was unable to rein in the resources the startup needed to carry on.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Udayy",
  "desc": "Indian edtech platform Udayy halted operations at the beginning of June. While the company stated that it had sufficient capital, it decided that it would ultimately not be feasible to keep going as children returned to attending school in person. Udayy initially considered pivoting to a hybrid model to offer offline services as well, but this proved not to be a realistic move. After failing to sell off its English learning courses, it shut down for good and laid off its workforce of around 120 employees.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Crejo",
  "desc": "Crejo, another Indian edtech startup, shuttered at the end of Q2\u201922 in a tale that largely mirrors Udayy\u2019s downfall. In addition to the harsh fundraising environment, the company cited the reopening of in-person schooling as the final blow to its operations. Co-founder Vikas Bansal stated that the startup had successfully secured new jobs for the vast majority of its workforce and would be providing each employee with one month of severance pay. In an attempt to compensate some of its investors, the company stated that it would attempt to sell its intellectual property and product.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Ahead",
  "desc": "Mental health platform Ahead closed down in the middle of April. The company did not cite a specific reason for the closure, but Sid Viswanathan, the CEO of Truepill, which invested $9M in Ahead in 2020, stated that the startup had moved to exclusively focus on B2B operations. As a result, Truepill decided not to extend continued support. At the time of closure, Ahead stated that it would not be taking any new patients and that it would halt services for existing patients by the end of June.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "WanderJaunt",
  "desc": "Airbnb competitor WanderJaunt shut down at the end of June. While the company did not make any major statements regarding the matter, the automated message on its customer service voicemail pointed to economic pressure as the factor driving the decision. While the voicemail message relayed that customers would receive refunds for booked stays, it also indicated that customers should reach out to Airbnb (if they booked a WanderJaunt property through Airbnb) or their bank if they faced any issues.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "myNurse",
  "desc": "Chronic care management platform myNurse closed down in May after experiencing a data breach. While the company discovered the breach at the start of March, it did not notify affected patients \u2014 whose health records, financial information, and other personal data had been accessed \u2014 until the end of April. The company denied that the breach was behind its decision to wind up operations, though it also did not provide any other explanation.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Gavelytics",
  "desc": "Gavelytics was a legal tech startup that helped users gain insight into the behavioral patterns exhibited by judges \u2014 such as the tendency to favor defendants over plaintiffs. While the company had previously raised $6M, founder and CEO Rick Merrill stated that the company was not able to bring in the funding it needed to continue moving forward.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Kaodim",
  "desc": "Kaodim \u2014 a platform for booking home services like moving and plumbing \u2014 announced that it would cease operations at the start of July. The driving force behind the move was two-fold, involving both existing pandemic-related disruption and more recent rising costs stemming from inflation. Employees were notified of the move ahead of time and provided with severance pay.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Friday",
  "desc": "Workplace communication startup Friday announced that it would be turning off its application at the beginning of June. In an announcement on its website, Friday co-founder Luke Thomas touched upon a lack of clarity surrounding product vision as well as market competition as reasons behind the closure. Customers were given 60 days to migrate their data from the application as well as recommendations for other products to use.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "SuperLearn",
  "desc": "Rounding out the trio of Indian edtech startups to recently go under, SuperLearn closed its doors at the end of June. As was the case with Udayy and Crejo, SuperLearn highlighted fundraising difficulties amid the return to offline schooling as a reason for its closing.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Chisel AI",
  "desc": "In April 2022, commercial insurance AI startup Chisel AI announced that it would be shutting down. The company, like many others, explained that macroeconomic pressures prevented it from raising more capital, driving it to closure.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Fast",
  "desc": "Fast, which enabled retailers to offer one-click login and checkout options, halted operations at the beginning of April. The company had started out hot, raising $125M in funding across deals backed by investors like Stripe, Addition, and Index Ventures. However, the company\u2019s burn far exceeded its revenue growth in 2021, putting it in a precarious position as it entered 2022. Just one week after closing a deal with the Honest Company, the startup released a statement from CEO and co-founder Domm Holland announcing its closure:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Zero Grocery",
  "desc": "Plastic-free grocery delivery startup Zero Grocery shut down at the beginning of March. Despite having raised $12M just one month earlier, in addition to 3 other seed rounds over the past 3 years, Zero CEO Zuleyka Strasner stated that the startup had \u201csuffered from being chronically undercapitalized.\u201d Several Bay Area food businesses have been left with unpaid bills as a result of the startup\u2019s abrupt closure.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Munchies",
  "desc": "Munchies \u2014 a 30-minute delivery startup \u2014 closed its doors in March, just 5 months after it raised $3M in seed funding. The startup set itself apart from other Pakistani grocery delivery players by maintaining a focus on snacks and drinks, targeting the country\u2019s convenience-hungry millennial population. While it was initially successful in doing so, sharing domestic expansion plans just a few months prior to shutting down, the company ultimately halted its operations. It has yet to release a statement on the matter, but both its website and mobile app are now inactive.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Fridge No More",
  "desc": "Fifteen-minute grocery delivery startup Fridge No More shuttered after a deal with potential buyer DoorDash fell through. While the startup attracted over $15M in funding a year earlier, investors became increasingly \u201cconcerned about growing competition and about bad order economics,\u201d CEO Pavel Danilov reportedly told employees. Unable to secure fresh capital, the company notified employees that it would be shutting down operations.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Lido Learning",
  "desc": "K-12 online tutoring platform Lido Learning closed its doors at the end of February. Founder Sahil Sheth reportedly held a town hall meeting, where he informed employees that the company would be shuttering due to financial complications. At that point in time, some of the company\u2019s vendors and staff stated that they hadn\u2019t received their respective payments and salaries for almost 2 months. Lido has not released an official statement on the closure.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Humm",
  "desc": "Humm, a once-promising graduate of the UC Berkeley Skydeck Accelerator, had developed a neurostimulation-backed wearable patch designed to enhance memory. While it had generated positive results in early testing stages, the pandemic and supply chain disruption hampered its ability to continue to test and develop the prototype. After failing to raise essential capital in a Series A round, the company folded. Humm CEO Iain McIntyre plans to join California-based Rogalife to help develop its electrostimulation-driven wearable for anxiety relief.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Nice Tuan",
  "desc": "Nice Tuan, a community buying platform, reportedly closed at the end of March, despite having raised $1.2B in funding to date. The startup had drawn repeat investments from Alibaba and GGV Ventures, among others, for enabling consumers to collectively buy produce and groceries at competitive rates via WeChat groups. However, in 2021, it fell short of its sales target, largely due to the fact that it was slapped with fines for fraud, dumping, and misleading advertising early in the year. Its financial woes sparked a falling out with Alibaba, accelerating the startup\u2019s downward trajectory.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Movez",
  "desc": "Movez \u2013 an augmented reality platform for soccer training \u2013 shut down due to sanctions placed on Roman Abramovich. The Russian oligarch owned the startup\u2019s main backer \u2013 the Chelsea Football Club \u2013 and was sanctioned by the British government for his ties to Vladimir Putin in early March. While Abramovich handed the reins over to the Chelsea Charitable Foundation amid the controversy, the club was still rocked by sanctions, inhibiting it from continuing to fund Movez.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "OnwardMobility",
  "desc": "OnwardMobility had hoped to help consumers relive the aughts by bringing back the BlackBerry. BlackBerry itself hasn\u2019t manufactured a smartphone since 2016 \u2013 however, it offers the brand name under a license that OnwardMobility picked up in 2020. While the company initially planned to release a BlackBerry-branded smartphone with a physical keyboard in 2021, it was unable to bring the product to market, drawing scrutiny from hopeful buyers. Eventually, the company announced its closure, but it did not provide any details on the reasoning behind its decision:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Protonn",
  "desc": "Protonn, a platform to help independent professionals launch businesses, shut down in the first weeks of 2022, despite having raised $9M in seed funding 6 months prior. It was reportedly unable to find product-market fit, and its founders were not able to rework the company\u2019s business model in order to adapt. While not the primary factor, the pandemic contributed to Protonn\u2019s downfall, as it exacerbated existing complications surrounding market alignment.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Olli",
  "desc": "Local Motors \u2014 the company behind Olli, an autonomous shuttle \u2014 closed down operations in January. Olli was an all-electric vehicle designed to operate in closed environments, such as college campuses and hospitals. While there was some buzz surrounding the announcement of its spring 2021 pilot partnership with Pacific Western Transportation \u2014 to bring shuttles to the city of Toronto, CA \u2014 the launch itself largely fell under the radar.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Neufund",
  "desc": "Neufund, a developer of a blockchain platform for investing and fundraising, announced its closure on January 10. The company had performed well up to this point, processing around $22.6M via its Ethereum-based platform and registering 11K investors across 123 countries.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "askRobin",
  "desc": "Estonia-based askRobin was a credit marketplace for underbanked consumers in emerging markets. It initially experienced success with the launch of its financial education chatbot, onboarding 200K+ users within its first month of activity. This compelled the company to broaden its offering to include lending services. Despite expanding its customer base to nearly 2M users, the startup ran into a number of complications amid the pandemic, which, in the end, proved to be insurmountable.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Ikos",
  "desc": "Pittsburgh-based Ikos stated that it would be \u201cwinding down\u201d operations in a letter sent to shareholders at the end of December 2021. This announcement came on the heels of multiple years of continuous growth for the real estate rental platform \u2014 it had raised $7.6M in equity funding across 6 deals up to that point.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "LendUp",
  "desc": "Payday loan platform LendUp was forced to halt loan origination and the collection of some outstanding loans as the result of a lawsuit from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB stated that the company had violated a 2016 consent order, engaged in misleading marketing practices, and failed to provide adverse-action notices to consumers in a timely manner.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Binance Singapore",
  "desc": "In mid-December 2021, Binance announced that it would close its portal in Singapore by February 2022. This move came at the tail-end of a series of regulatory challenges faced by the crypto trading platform. In September 2021, the Monetary Authority of Singapore had forced Binance.com to stop providing services to Singaporean residents, compelling its subsidiary, Binance Asia Services (BAS), to apply for a license to operate a regulated cryptocurrency exchange.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "1520",
  "desc": "1520 \u2014 a rapid grocery delivery startup \u2014 shut down in December 2021. The company, launched in January of this year, aimed to provide no-fee 20-minute grocery delivery services and was initially successful in doing so. It drew $7.8M in seed funding from investors in April, opened up new dark store locations across Manhattan, and even expanded its services to Chicago in September.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Apervita",
  "desc": "Apervita, a health analytics startup, closed its doors in October 2021. While the company had picked up momentum in recent years, acquiring value-based contract and alternative payment administration solutions provider Qcentive and establishing partnerships with organizations like Mayo and Cleveland Clinic, it was not able to raise enough funding to maintain operations.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Yunniao",
  "desc": "Same-city logistics company Yunniao went bankrupt at the end of October. Prior to its closure, it had garnered $210M in funding, last raising a $100M Series D round in February 2017.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Payvision",
  "desc": "ING announced that it would begin the shutdown of its Payvision subsidiary, a card acquirer and payments platform, at the start of November. ING acquired a majority stake in the startup in 2018 to enhance its omnichannel payments and merchant services. Soon after, the startup became mired in controversy \u2014 the European Funds Recovery Initiative publicly claimed that the startup had processed $160M in fraudulent transactions prior to its acquisition.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "YCloset",
  "desc": "YCloset \u2014 a fashion rental startup \u2014 shut down in early July, despite having raised $70M in total disclosed funding since its founding in 2015. In doing so, the company announced plans to end support for its sales and online channels by August 15. Like its US-based counterparts, Rent the Runway and Stitch Fix, YCloset operated using a subscription model and allowed its users to rent branded apparel.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "KupiVIP & Mamsy",
  "desc": "Discount e-commerce retailer KupiVIP and its affiliate Mamsy shut down after Yandex backed out of a deal to buy the company in July. Founded in 2008, KupiVIP was once one of Russia\u2019s top 10 e-commerce sites \u2014 in fact, in 2012 it was valued at $400M. However, its ranking fell as competition in the space increased, ultimately leading it to experience a 10% year-over-year decrease in sales revenue in 2020.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Abundant Robotics",
  "desc": "Robotic apple harvester developer Abundant Robotics announced that it would be closing its doors at the beginning of July. Abundant claimed that it had been unable to develop the market traction necessary to stay afloat amid the pandemic, despite having collected $10M in venture capital investment and additional funding from The Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Yelo",
  "desc": "July 2021 saw the closure of Yelo \u2014 a challenger bank mainly geared toward gig workers. After raising a seed round in 2019 and subsequently amassing 4M app downloads, the company faced complications with its business model that were further compounded by the onset of the pandemic. While no official statement was made by the company, in July, an anonymous source close to the company stated,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Orthrus Studios",
  "desc": "Scotland-based video game developer Orthrus Studios shut down following the launch of its fantasy video game \u201cDistant Kingdoms\u201d in May. The company\u2019s team of 10 employees, including founder Oliver V. Smith, were all let go.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Houseparty",
  "desc": "At the start of September, Epic Games announced that it would be discontinuing Houseparty come October. Epic acquired the video chat app in 2019 for $35M in order to provide live video chat capabilities to Fortnite gamers. While the company didn\u2019t cite an explicit reason for the shutdown, many surmised that the app had simply proven to be financially unsustainable.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Clickety",
  "desc": "At the end of August, project management tool Clickety announced it would be closing down. Customers were told to contact the company to obtain a file containing data related to \u201cgroup memberships, manual comments, people notes, and merged aliases,\u201d otherwise it would be permanently deleted on October 1. Founder Luke Kanies didn\u2019t provide a specific reason for the closure, simply stating,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Mastree",
  "desc": "Unacademy shut down online learning platform Mastree a year after acquiring a majority stake in the company for $5M. Of Mastree\u2019s 240 employees, Unacademy stated that 190 would be redistributed across its other businesses following the closure, though Mastree co-founders Shrey Goyal and Royal Jain chose to fully depart. In an internal note, Unacademy co-founder and chief executive Gaurav Munjal commented,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Katerra",
  "desc": "Modular construction startup Katerra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early June 2021. The SoftBank-backed unicorn was last valued at $3B in 2018 and had raised nearly $1.5B in total funding from investors such as Khosla Ventures and Greenoaks Capital Management.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Madefire",
  "desc": "Madefire, a digital comics startup, entered into an assignment of benefit for creditors (ABC), an alternative to formal bankruptcy, at the beginning of April 2021. This was a sudden announcement for many Madefire users, who were given until the end of the month to download their purchases. The Madefire app powered a number of digital comics apps \u2014 such as Archie Unlimited and IDW \u2014 which were also shut down. Despite having a wide range of artists, including Dave Gibbons, and investors, like Drake, the company faded out in the face of competition. The Beat reports,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Aerion Corporation",
  "desc": "Aerion Corporation, an aeronautical engineering startup, announced its sudden closure at the end of May 2021. The company had drawn attention for developing a patented technology that would allow its AS2 supersonic jets to fly without creating a sonic boom. While the company had fostered partnerships with Boeing, General Electric, and NetJets, and reported plans to fly its first jet by 2024 and begin commercial services by 2026, it ultimately succumbed to challenges associated with securing necessary capital. According to a company statement,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Periscope",
  "desc": "Periscope, the livestreaming app that popularized mobile livestreaming, shut down at the end of March 2021 \u2014 6 years after its initial launch. In December 2020, Twitter \u2014 which bought Periscope in 2015 for $100M \u2014 announced that it would be phasing out the app due to declining usage. The need for Periscope as a standalone service started to wane in 2016 when Twitter announced the launch of its homegrown streaming capabilities. Periscope\u2019s website will remain active with an archive of its public broadcasts and users will still be able to download their data through Twitter as well. Twitter stated,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "SuperData Research",
  "desc": "Market intelligence provider SuperData Research was shuttered in March 2021 by Nielsen Sports, which acquired the research firm in 2018 to help it enhance its own product offerings. While Nielsen did not specify a reason for shutting down the division, it did state that it would move away from offering gaming services as its own entity and instead add it as an additional feature to its core Nielsen Sports products. Sports Business Journal reported that market competition and Covid-19-related complications could have factored into the decision,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Hubba",
  "desc": "Canada-based e-commerce startup Hubba shut down in February 2021. The company, which had raised $59M in disclosed equity funding, aimed to help connect independent retailers and emerging brands to bring attention to new products and facilitate wholesale buying. The announcement was a shock both for those familiar with the company\u2019s earlier achievements and IPO plans and for its employees, who were immediately let go on an all-hands zoom call at the start of the month. According to Betakit,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Hey Tiger",
  "desc": "Ethical chocolate brand Hey Tiger announced its closure at the beginning of May 2021, 3 years after opening. The company\u2019s mission was twofold \u2014 to produce high-quality chocolate products while simultaneously acknowledging and addressing inequities in the cocoa industry. Not only did it commit to ethically sourcing ingredients, but it also made charitable donations to combat child labor and poverty in cocoa farming communities. Although the company gained a loyal following, it struggled to scale its operations and remain profitable in a manner that aligned with its social goals. A post on the company\u2019s Instagram account stated,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Beam",
  "desc": "Mobile savings app Beam was shut down under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The app \u2014 launched in 2019 \u2014 initially billed itself as \u201cthe first mobile high-interest savings account for the 99%,\u201d offering interest rates as high as 7% while still permitting \u201c24/7 access\u201d to deposits. However, a 2020 CNBC investigation revealed that dozens of customers were not able to get their money out of their accounts, which ultimately led the FTC to shut it down and bar it from operating a similar business in the future. FTC Acting Director of Consumer Protection Daniel Kaufman stated,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "JAAK",
  "desc": "UK-based blockchain music startup JAAK announced that it would be taking most of its properties offline starting at the end of March 2021. JAAK\u2019s goal in developing its pilot blockchain network \u2014 KORD \u2014 was to create a global view of intellectual property rights and payment information to help artists manage rights ownership and correct inconsistencies in royalty payments. A series of Tweets on the company\u2019s corporate account points to challenges with scale and securing adequate funding, among others, as reasons for its undoing,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "V1 Interactive",
  "desc": "Video game developer V1 Interactive announced its closure in March 2021, just 9 months after releasing its debut game called Disintegration. While the company didn\u2019t cite a specific reason for its closure, previous reports indicate that it struggled with growing an audience for its multiplayer offering. It took Disintegration\u2019s multiplayer mode offline in September 2020, and the entire game was taken offline in November. In its final Twitter announcement, it simply stated,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Quibi",
  "desc": "Mobile-focused streaming service Quibi shut down in October 2020 just 6 months after launching. The platform \u2014 which had raised a mammoth $1.75B from investors like NBC Universal, Viacom, and Warner Bros. Entertainment \u2014 offered subscribers shows made up of 5- to 10-minute episodes, meant to be consumed \u201con-the-go.\u201d The service failed to gain traction with consumers amid a crowded playing field of streaming services and other short form content providers like TikTok. Roku purchased the rights to Quibi\u2019s programming for less than $100M in January 2021.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Aura Financial",
  "desc": "Latino-focused consumer lender Aura Financial, which offered customers loans of $300 to $4,000 through supermarkets and other retailers, suspended operations in early January as it faced increasing financial challenges. On LinkedIn, company co-founder James Gutierrez blamed the company\u2019s demise on the pandemic and a lack of funding, as quoted in American Banker:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Loon",
  "desc": "Loon, the high-flying internet balloon project spun out of X, Alphabet\u2019s (the parent company of Google) innovation lab, closed down in January. According to the Financial Times,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Xinja",
  "desc": "Australia-based digital bank Xinja announced in December 2020 it would exit banking, returning its banking license and refunding customer deposits. The startup had reportedly spent heavily on its high-interest bank accounts and was unable to close a funding round before announcing its decision to shut down its banking products on its website, noting:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "GoBear",
  "desc": "Despite having raised $17M in fresh funding in May 2020, Singapore-based fintech GoBear announced it would wind down operations earlier this year. The startup, which offered a financial products comparison tool, cited its inability to raise new financing and the pandemic\u2019s downward pressure on consumer demand for products like travel insurance as reasons for its failure. The Strait Times reported:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Quantopian",
  "desc": "Quantitative trading platform Quantopian announced in October 2020 that it would shut down and that its co-founders and employees would move to Robinhood. The company, which had raised over $51M in funding from names like Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, let users develop and test algorithmic trading strategies for free. Selected algorithms were then used as part of Quantopian\u2019s hedge fund\u2019s investing strategy, and developers would get a cut of the profits. Bloomberg said about the shutdown:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "AWOK",
  "desc": "Dubai-based e-commerce startup AWOK closed down in early September 2020. While the startup blamed the pandemic for its demise in an official statement, the company had allegedly been far behind on payments to its employees and suppliers before then, despite having secured $30M in funding a year prior.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Brideside",
  "desc": "Launched in 2013, wedding and bridesmaid dress retailer Brideside shut down in November 2020, as it and the wedding industry on the whole faced significant headwinds due to Covid-19. According to Retail Dive,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Joonko",
  "desc": "Berlin-based financial products comparison site Joonko shut down in October 2020 after only 1 year in operation. The startup, which had received $11M in seed funding from Ping An Ventures and Raisin, was in talks to raise another financing round which fell through. As quoted in Born2Invest, the company\u2019s press release at the time of its closure stated:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "HubHaus",
  "desc": "Co-living rental platform HubHaus, which raised over $12M in VC funding, announced it would wind down operations in September 2020 after months of missed payments. The company laid off all employees and transferred all tenants\u2019 leases to the homeowners abruptly. The San Francisco Chronicle reports,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "TerrAvion",
  "desc": "Agtech imaging startup TerrAvion folded abruptly in September 2020. According to CropLife, company CEO Robert Morris said in an email to customers:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Rubica",
  "desc": "Cybersecurity startup Rubica, which initially offered its services to individual consumers and small businesses, closed up shop in November 2020. The 4-year-old startup had attempted to pivot to offering its services to larger customers as it struggled to generate enough revenue from its consumer subscription service, but it was unable to convince investors of the viability of its model. Rubica CEO and co-founder Frances Dewing told GeekWire:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Haven",
  "desc": "Haven, a joint venture by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase aimed at lowering healthcare costs, announced it would shut down in February 2021, 3 years after launching. According to CNBC,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "TenX",
  "desc": "Cryptocurrency payments startup TenX is sunsetting its current services and has disabled new signups and deposits. The startup, which was incubated by PayPal in 2016, announced in October 2020 it would discontinue its cards as its card issuer Wirecard filed for insolvency. The company stated,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Lumina Networks",
  "desc": "Lumina Networks, a provider of open source software for telecom networks, announced it was going out of business in late August 2020. Although backed by AT&T Ventures and Verizon Ventures, the company was unable to find a sustainable revenue model, citing the pandemic as a contributing factor, according to its statement:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Atrium",
  "desc": "Legal tech and law firm startup Atrium shut down in March 2020, following an unsuccessful pivot to a pure software offering in January. The firm had received just over $75M in funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and New Enterprise Associates, and it was once valued at over $250M. CEO Justin Kan noted in his interview with TechCrunch,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "ScaleFactor",
  "desc": "Finance and accounting platform ScaleFactor raised $100M from investors before shutting down in June 2020. In an interview with Forbes, CEO Kurt Rathmann blamed pandemic-related financial woes for the demise of the company, which promised to automate customers\u2019 bookkeeping needs. However, some former clients \u2014 and employees \u2014 protested this characterization, stating that the AI tech powering the platform was often unpredictable, creating errors that even outsourced accountants the company had hired couldn\u2019t keep up with fixing. According to a Forbes investigation published in July 2020,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Starsky Robotics",
  "desc": "Starsky Robotics, an autonomous trucking tech startup, folded in March 2020. In a blog post, CEO Stefan Seltz-Axmacher outlined the reasons the company had failed, stating:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Essential Products",
  "desc": "Consumer hardware startup Essential closed down in February 2020, following the flop of its Essential Phone launched in 2017 and other unfinished projects. Founded by Andy Rubin, the creator of Android, the startup drew significant interest, raising over $330M. However, after a 2018 New York Times report revealed that Rubin had allegedly left Google due to sexual misconduct allegations, attention to the startup cooled. According to The Verge,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Jumpshot",
  "desc": "Avast Antivirus\u2019 CEO Ondrej Vlcek and board of directors promptly shut down subsidiary Jumpshot after an investigation by Motherboard and PCMag revealed that Avast, the antivirus security platform, was collecting and selling private user web browsing data through Jumpshot. According to The Verge,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Sorabel",
  "desc": "Fashion e-commerce startup Sorabel was unable to weather the storm created by the Covid-19 crisis, announcing plans to wind down operations in July 2020 as consumers avoided non-essential spending. Sorabel had received over $28M in disclosed funding, and was reportedly poised to close new financing when the pandemic hit and investors withdrew. Deal Street Asia reported,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Hollar",
  "desc": "Launched in 2015, Hollar \u2014 backed by investors like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Lightspeed Venture Partners \u2014 received over $45M in funding to bring the dollar store online. However, Axios reported in February 2020 that the startup would wind down operations amid financial troubles:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "The Outline",
  "desc": "Bustle Digital Group shut down digital media company The Outline in April 2020, just one year after acquiring it. Founded in 2016 by journalist Joshua Topolsky, the company raised over $10M in funding to develop a news site that featured immersive design, bold colors, and full-page ads. Amid low site traction and added pressure from the Covid-19 crisis, Bustle Digital laid off The Outline\u2019s staff as part of broader company layoffs. According to Neiman Lab,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Stay Alfred",
  "desc": "Apartment rental startup Stay Alfred was hit hard by the pandemic, as shutdowns forced the company to close its properties and investor interest dried up. The startup, which had raised $62M in funding, announced it would permanently cease operations in May 2020. According to Short Term Rentalz, CEO Jordan Allen said in an interview with the Spokane Journal,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Stockwell",
  "desc": "AI-powered vending machine startup Stockwell announced its plans to shut down in June 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic made its business model of in-office and in-apartment building vending machines nonviable. In August, 365 Retail Markets announced its acquisition of Stockwell\u2019s tech platform, which it intends to integrate into its point-of-sale systems. CEO Paul McDonald told TechCrunch,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Pillow and ApartmentJet",
  "desc": "In 2018, Expedia acquired rental management software startups Pillow and ApartmentJet in an approximate $54M deal. Expedia combined the startups to form a platform to help landlords and tenants offer short-term rentals. According to Skift, Expedia shut down the platform in May 2020 as Covid-19 decimated the demand for its services,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Mixer",
  "desc": "Acquired in 2016 by Microsoft, the interactive game streaming service Mixer let viewers interact with streamers via crowd-sourced controls. After failing to scale Mixer to compete with Twitch and YouTube, Microsoft announced in June 2020 that it would shut down the platform and partner with Facebook Gaming. According to The Verge,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Lasso",
  "desc": "As Facebook prepared the launch of Instagram\u2019s Reels, it shut down its other TikTok clone, Lasso. The app, which was only available in select markets, never gained traction in the US and was shut down by Facebook in July 2020. Business Insider reported,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Trover",
  "desc": "Another Expedia acquisition felled by the pandemic is photo sharing platform Trover. Founded in 2011 by Rich Barton and Jason Karas, Trover aimed to connect travelers through images and experiences shared on the site, which shut down in August 2020. The startup raised $12M before being acquired in 2016 by Expedia. According to GeekWire,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Sienna Biopharmaceuticals",
  "desc": "California-based Sienna Biopharmaceuticals had raked in $86M in venture funding before going public at a valuation near $300M in 2017. It ultimately filed for bankruptcy after several pipeline drug flops. According to Becker\u2019s Hospital Review,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Vicis",
  "desc": "Football helmet maker Vicis entered receivership after struggling to turn a profit, despite praise for its high-tech helmets. It had raised more than $74M in disclosed funding from investors, but failed to gain market share in a highly complex and competitive industry. According to the New York Times,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Stratoscale",
  "desc": "Once valued at nearly $90M, Stratoscale developed data center infrastructure software. The Israel-based software company had accumulated funding from big-name investors such as Cisco Investments, Bessemer Venture Partners, Intel Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures, among others, but shuttered after a failed acquisition. As CEO Ariel Maislos told Globes,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Hipmunk",
  "desc": "Founded by Adam Goldstein and Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman, Hipmunk was one of the first metasearch travel sites that allowed users to compare flights, hotels, and car rentals from multiple websites. It gathered $55M in funding before being acquired by SAP Concur in 2016, which struggled to integrate the search engine. Its co-founders made a bid to take over the startup before it shuttered but were rejected. As SAP Concur spokesperson Alex Vaught told Skift,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "IgnitionOne",
  "desc": "Once a pioneering adtech firm, IgnitionOne fell from glory after failing to renew its line of credit. A notable problem ex-employees lamented was that management was too personally invested in the startup, hindering growth and adaptability. Zeta Global ultimately purchased the company. In a letter to shareholders, CEO Will Margiloff wrote,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Omni",
  "desc": "Storage and rental startup Omni folded after failing to scale and generate revenue, with Coinbase reportedly agreeing to hire 10 of its engineers. Omni had gathered $35M in funding from Highland Capital and Ripple, among others. According to TechCrunch,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Miaoshenghou",
  "desc": "Fresh food delivery market Miaoshenghou shuttered in December 2019, quietly closing its 80 Shanghai-based stores. The founder noted that low profit margins, as low as 10% to 20% for fresh goods, ultimately led to the chain\u2019s demise. As the founder told China Economic Net,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Juno",
  "desc": "New York ride-hailing app Juno was shut down by parent company Gett in November. The company had long struggled with profitability, and reportedly lost $1M a day. It had previously raised $30M from Jordache Ventures and Rakuten before getting acquired by Gett in 2017. According to the press release,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "CrediFi",
  "desc": "Commercial real estate loans data startup CrediFi shut down in December 2019, after failing to find footing in a competitive space that featured incumbents like CoStar Group. It had earlier raised $29M from a host of investors including Battery Ventures, Viola Ventures, and Liberty Media Corporation. The Real Deal writes,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Kettlebell Kitchen",
  "desc": "Meal kit startup Kettlebell Kitchen, which focused on tailored meal kits for specific diets, closed shop in November 2019. It reportedly lost $12M a year, struggling to turn a profit amid a crowded meal kit delivery market, with numerous rivals like HelloFresh and BlueApron competing for the same demographic. The Spoon writes,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Vaniday",
  "desc": "Beauty booking platform Vaniday shut down in December 2019, despite raising a reported 7-figure round in June. In an interview, CEO Saurabh Chauhan said that the company hadn\u2019t been profitable since its first investment in 2015. According to DealStreetAsia,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Coolest Cooler",
  "desc": "Widely regarded as one of Kickstarter\u2019s greatest failures, Coolest Cooler finally ceased operations in December after floundering for 5 years. The initial project, which promised a cooler that featured a blender and a bluetooth speaker, raised more than $13M, but ultimately failed to deliver its coolers to more than 20,000 people. In a project update, the team blamed the trade war,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Inboard Technology",
  "desc": "Santa Cruz-based Inboard Technology began as a Kickstarter project that raised more than $400K to develop a popular electric skateboard. But its failed pivot to electric scooters sank the startup. In a memo posted on its website, the CEO writes,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Spacious",
  "desc": "WeWork shuttered restaurant-based coworking subsidiary Spacious after acquiring it just 4 months earlier. Spacious is just one of many startups, such as Managed by Q and Meetup, that have become collateral in WeWork\u2019s implosion of an IPO. According to Recode,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "8tracks",
  "desc": "After 11 years, music streaming platform 8tracks shuttered, citing lack of revenue and increased competition from big players. It had previously raised nearly $7.5M from Andreessen Horowitz, Uncork Capital, Index Ventures, and more. In a blog post, the founder wrote,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Tink Labs (aka Hi Inc.)",
  "desc": "In one of the largest startup deaths this year, Hong Kong-based Tink Labs, which provided free-to-use smartphones in hotel rooms, ended its services in over 600,000 hotel rooms across 82 countries. According to the Financial Times,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "uBiome",
  "desc": "Medical diagnostics startup uBiome was unable to weather an FBI investigation and related fallout from the reveal of the company\u2019s predatory billing practices. According to a Forbes article about the shutdown,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Singulex",
  "desc": "Medical testing startup Singulex closed in the wake of a whistleblower suit that claimed it was billing federal health programs for unnecessary blood tests that it pressured upon healthcare providers. Singulex paid a $1.25M fine in August 2018 and shuttered in July 2019.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "DAQRI",
  "desc": "DAQRI, a Los Angeles-based AR startup, found itself floundering after burning through investments in excess of $250M and acquiring 4 other entities. Internal sources cited difficulties common among forerunners in emerging industries, including competitors with extensive corporate backing and difficulties training users to use the technology. According to TechCrunch,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Vreal",
  "desc": "Vreal, a VR platform where video game streamers could share their virtual environment with viewers who could then interact in that VR space, called it quits after raising almost $12M in a Series A round in Q1\u201918. According to a statement from the company:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Reach Robotics",
  "desc": "Reach Robotics, the startup behind gaming robot MekaMon, shut down after being unable to make it in the hypercompetitive consumer hardware industry. Both co-founders weighed in with their thoughts around the life and challenges of Reach Robotics.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Oryx Vision",
  "desc": "Israel-based lidar startup Oryx Vision made the unusual move this year to preemptively shut down its operations \u2014 not due to running out of funds, as is frequently the case, but because the founders saw the roadblocks ahead of them in the autonomous vehicle space and decided that Oryx was not equipped to survive into the future. Oryx Vision will be returning approximately $40M to investors as part of this decision.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Pellion Technologies",
  "desc": "Rechargeable battery startup Pellion shuttered due to rising concerns around its ability to yield profit in the autonomous vehicle industry. The company developed a lithium-metal battery which could support drones, but not a mass market of electric vehicles. Quartz reports,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Phytelligence",
  "desc": "After losing the rights to its key product (a new strain of apples named Cosmic Crisps) in a legal battle with Washington State University, agtech startup Phytelligence closed its doors for good. Geekwire writes,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "DocTalk",
  "desc": "DocTalk, an India-based startup backed by Y Combinator and Matrix Partners, folded after trying to pivot from being a mobile communications platform between doctors and patients to an electronic medical record (EMR) solutions entity. According to people privy to the shutdown:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Homepolish",
  "desc": "Homepolish, a customizable interior design startup, built a business around sparkling marketing and promises of highly vetted designers that it ultimately couldn\u2019t follow through on. After high-profile denouncements of Homepolish and documentation of the shoddy work done by the startup, the company fell apart \u2014 but not before CEO Noa Santos announced that designers would not be paid owed wages and customers would not be able to get refunds. The New York Magazine writes,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Mac & Mia",
  "desc": "Kids\u2019 apparel delivery service Mac & Mia announced it would cease operations after a short-lived run that began in 2018. The company was unable to carve out its desired niche and had to close shop in late August 2019. According to ChicagoInno,",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Anki",
  "desc": "Consumer AI robotics company Anki had raised over $200M from prominent investors but the company wasn\u2019t able to stay afloat after reportedly failing to attract a new round of investment or an acquirer. Anki posted a statement on its website:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Stratolaunch",
  "desc": "Stratolaunch was founded by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and aimed to launch satellites from planes. The Reuters report of its shuttering came just weeks after it had completed its first test flight:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Wow Air",
  "desc": "Low-cost airline Wow Air abruptly shut down in March after being unable to secure additional funding. Bloomberg\u2019s report included part of a letter its Chairman Skuli Mogensen sent to Wow Air staff:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Panda TV",
  "desc": "The Esports Observer reported on Chinese video streaming service Panda TV shutting down:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Roadstar.ai",
  "desc": "Autonomous vehicle startup Roadstar.ai was developing autonomous vehicles and had raised around $128M in 2018, but its co-founder was mired by allegations of fraud. Synced Review described the situation in its coverage:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Seven Dreamers Laboratories",
  "desc": "Panasonic-backed Seven Dreamers Laboratories offered a laundry machine which aimed to act as a combined washer, dryer, and clothes folder. Engadget thought that the machine was trying to do too much:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Lesara",
  "desc": "The German online fashion retailer couldn\u2019t keep operations going after failing to find an investor or a buyer, according to neuhandeln.de:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Crazy Teacher",
  "desc": "Chinese home tutoring app Crazy Teacher \u2014 which included Tencent as one of its investors \u2014 closed in April, as reported by Pencil News:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Arivale",
  "desc": "The decision was a surprise to many Arivale employees and customers. In a message to Arivale customers this afternoon, the company attributed the decision to \u201cthe simple fact that the cost of providing the service exceeds what our customers can pay for it.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Aria Insights",
  "desc": "Aria Insights \u2014 backed by high-profile investors such as Lux Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners \u2014 offered drones which were designed to gather data from challenging environments. The Robot Report says that Aria Insights was in the middle of rebrand when it closed:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Shoes of Prey",
  "desc": "Co-founder Michael Fox announced in a blog post that the brand was shutting down, citing a lack of demand for their customization approach:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Homeshare",
  "desc": "HomeShare aimed to help users find affordable accommodation but, after failing to secure new financing, the company announced it was closing in a post on its website:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Fabric",
  "desc": "In a blog post, the Y-Combinator graduate said it couldn\u2019t make its memory curation app a sustainable product:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Aiwujiwu",
  "desc": "While no official statement has been made, the former unicorn\u2019s website appears to be inactive:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Arrivo",
  "desc": "Futuristic transportation startup Arrivo shut down its operations this week, The Verge has learned. All of the company\u2019s 30 or so employees were furloughed in late November, with about half being completely laid off at the end of that month \u2026 Now, the Los Angeles startup is shutting down because it hasn\u2019t been able to secure new funding, these people say. Remaining employees were informed Friday via text messages seen by The Verge, or by phone.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Chariot",
  "desc": "The Ford-owned shuttle transportation company announced its decision to cease operations in a blog post:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Fifth Dimension",
  "desc": "Tel Aviv-based predictive analytics company Fifth Dimension Holdings Ltd. has shut down, selling its operations and letting all employees go.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Lighthouse AI",
  "desc": "Lighthouse AI\u2019s CEO Alex Teichman shared a farewell message on the company\u2019s website:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Munchery",
  "desc": "Today, with heavy heart, we\u2019re announcing that Munchery is closing its doors and ending operations effective immediately. Any outstanding orders with Munchery will be cancelled and refunded. Please allow 2-3 business days for these refunds to process.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Naya Health",
  "desc": "The women\u2019s health company emailed its users explaining its decision to shut down (per CNBC):",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Onavo",
  "desc": "The Facebook-owned app was pulled from the App Store for violating data collection policies, according to Apple (via TechCrunch):",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Poppy Care Company",
  "desc": "The platform connecting families and caregivers addresses its shortcomings in a blog post:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "SCHAFT",
  "desc": "Following Softbank\u2019s decision not to move forward with the Schaft acquisition,\u201d an Alphabet spokesperson told Nikkei, \u201cwe explored many options but ultimately decided to wind down Schaft. We\u2019re working with employees to help them find jobs elsewhere within or outside of Alphabet.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Sophia",
  "desc": "The company, which sought to match people with life counselors, now redirects users to other platforms seeking mental wellness resources:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Airware",
  "desc": "History has taught us how hard it can be to call the timing of a market transition. We have seen this play out first hand in the commercial drone marketplace. We were the pioneers in this market and one of the first to see the power drones could have in the commercial sector. Unfortunately, the market took longer to mature than we expected. As we worked through the various required pivots to position ourselves for long term success, we ran out of financial runway. As a result, it is with a heavy heart that we notified our team, customers, and partners that we will wind down the business.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Alta Motors",
  "desc": "According to multiple independent sources, Alta Motors is winding down business operations and shuttering [its] electric motorbike production line. The award-winning startup has recently faced issues securing enough funding to continue operations after several investment and partnership deals fell through.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "CanadaDrugs.com",
  "desc": "The circumstances of the online Canadian pharmacy\u2019s shutdown by the FDA were reported as follows:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "CloudMine",
  "desc": "An email statement from healthcare data platform CloudMine details its Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Defy Media",
  "desc": "Regretfully, Defy Media has ceased operations today \u2026 We are extremely proud of what we accomplished here at Defy and in particular want to thank all the employees who worked here. We deeply regret the impact that this has had on them today\u2026 Unfortunately, market conditions got in the way of us completing our mission.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Driver",
  "desc": "The company, which sought to match patients with clinical trials, shut down just two months after its launch:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Eleven James",
  "desc": "According to Robi Cai, the company\u2019s former head of corporate strategy and development from September 2016 through June 2018, earlier this year Eleven James tried to raise additional funds to allow them to continue operating. When the company was unable to raise said funds, the company\u2019s main lender pulled its existing line of credit, causing the company\u2019s management and board to begin winding down operations around the middle of June 2018. This process involves reclaiming lent watches that are currently with members. Cai\u2019s understanding is that members who have returned all watches would no longer be charged their membership fees. At present, he says that he understands there to only be a handful of employees remaining at the company.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Fastbee",
  "desc": "Unfortunately, it could not withstand a double whammy of competition from new players and fundraising difficulties that soon came along. The start-up had its last day on Aug 14.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Halo+ Smoke Alarm",
  "desc": "It is with our sincere apologies that we must let you know that Halo Smart Labs is closing its doors. You may have noticed a lack of available product and support responses, and we apologize for taking so long to let you know what is going on. While we are proud to have created a best in class product, it takes more than a great product to make a great business. Despite the best efforts of our team, ultimately the resources required to continue making and supporting Halo products were beyond our reach.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Henri Bendel",
  "desc": "We are committed to improving performance in the business and increasing shareholder value. As part of that effort, we have decided to stop operating Bendel to improve company profitability and focus on our larger brands that have greater growth potential.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Liquavista",
  "desc": "An Amazon rep told me this morning that they \u2018can confirm that Liquivista is no longer operating.\u2019 However, they were unable to tell me whether Amazon still be pursuing this tech, if Liquavista\u2019s R&D work been shifted to another unit, or the state of their screen production.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Path",
  "desc": "It is with deep regret to announce that Path service will be discontinued. It has been a long journey and we sincerely thank each one of you for your years of love and support Path.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Seatwave",
  "desc": "Ticketmaster addressed the shutdown of its online ticket marketplace in a blog post:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Theranos",
  "desc": "The New York Times wrote about the blood testing company and its plans to shutter operations:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Treato",
  "desc": "The Israeli startup, Treato recently filed for liquidation at the Tel Aviv District Court. Launched in 2011, Treato operated a platform designed to gather and analyze user-generated health-related information and offer insights on medical conditions and medication.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Wimdu",
  "desc": "The vacation rentals marketplace announced that it would be shutting down by the end of 2018 due to \u201csignificant financial and business challenges.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Wonga",
  "desc": "Despite efforts to restructure the business, which included an injection of funding by the Group\u2019s shareholders the business was unable to be restored to profitability due to the level of redress claims. As a result, the management team had no alternative but to place the above companies into administration. Following the appointment of Administrators there will be no new lending activity.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Yogome",
  "desc": "In a team meeting, staff members of the edtech startup were reportedly told:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Apprenda",
  "desc": "Safeguard CEO and president Brian Sisko gave an update during an earnings call:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Chef\u2019d",
  "desc": "We have had some unexpected circumstances with the funding for the business. Due to setbacks with financing, unfortunately, we are ceasing operations for all employees, effective today, July 16, 2018. If we had been successful with these funding efforts, this difficult decision would have been avoided.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Bluesmart",
  "desc": "We have bittersweet news to share. The changes in policies announced by several major airlines at the end of last year\u2014the banning of smart luggage with non-removable batteries\u2014put our company in an irreversibly difficult financial and business situation. After exploring all the possible options for pivoting and moving forward, the company was finally forced to wind down its operations and explore disposition options, unable to continue operating as an independent entity.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "CareSync",
  "desc": "This was a very difficult decision and we know that it will have an impact on our customers and our employees. As a company whose mission is to improve patient care and strengthen the relationships between patients and their family members and caregivers, we are deeply saddened that we were not able to continue in that effort.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Lantern",
  "desc": "We\u2019ve spent the past six years working hard to build a product that is engaging for users, reduces symptoms, and has a sustainable business model. After some trial and error in the direct to consumer and employer spaces, we ultimately pursued a strategy of alignment with traditional healthcare insurance companies. Healthcare moves very slowly and we made the mistake of misjudging the time it would take to achieve sustainable revenue through this approach.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "StumbleUpon",
  "desc": "In a post on Medium, co-founder Garret Camp explained the decision to shutter StumbleUpon:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Cambridge Analytica",
  "desc": "[It] has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business, which left Cambridge Analytica with no realistic alternative to placing the Company into administration.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "OSSIC",
  "desc": "OSSIC posted a message on its Kickstarter page explaining why the company would not be able to deliver the product:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "DaWanda",
  "desc": "In the last quarter of 2017 we reached profitability and have since been working to cover our costs. At the same time, we had to admit that our growth is stagnating and that we can hardly manage by our own efforts to grow the number of sales on our platform to the desired extent \u2013 even our restructuring last year could not change this \u2026 Additionally, we haven\u2019t managed to implement enough innovative new ideas over the past few years.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Fieldbook",
  "desc": "Getting to this decision was gut-wrenching and took months. We still believe in the vision and love the mission. But in the end, we failed to build a sustainable business. Even with a small team, we were never profitable, and we weren\u2019t able to grow our revenue fast enough to get there.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Puddle",
  "desc": "In an email circulated by the company, Puddle founders stated that after five years of operation the businesses model was \u201cunsustainable.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "DASH Stores",
  "desc": "Kim Kardashian West spoke for her sisters (and co-founders) in a note on her website:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Ivanka Trump",
  "desc": "When we first started this brand, no one could have predicted the success that we would achieve. After 17 months in Washington, I do not know when or if I will ever return to the business, but I do know that my focus for the foreseeable future will be the work I am doing here in Washington, so making this decision now is the only fair outcome for my team and partners.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Klout",
  "desc": "CEO of parent company Lithium Peter Hess posted a message on the Lithosphere community forums:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Doughbies",
  "desc": "The team from Doughbies recorded a short video explaining its desire to move on:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Weddington Way",
  "desc": "We are incredibly disappointed, but also proud of the business that we have worked hard to build over the past seven years. Our mission has been to share joy, which has served both our customers and employees well. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your loyalty and love\u2026 and enjoy your upcoming weddings!",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Coinprism web wallet",
  "desc": "We didn\u2019t see a business model that would have been viable long term. Regulators are starting to pay attention to the [cryptocurrency] space, and activities around blockchain assets (tokens exchanges, ICO tools and services, etc.) are likely to become heavily regulated in the next 5 years. That means some of these services will have to shut down or restrict their activities, some might go to prison, and only a small number of well capitalized companies will successfully adapt to the regulator\u2019s demands.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Shyp",
  "desc": "Shyp CEO Kevin Gibbon published a company post-mortem on LinkedIn after the company shuttered in late March.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Kuv\u00e9e connected wine bottles",
  "desc": "[It] became clear that, to properly educate the market, we would need a much louder voice and considerably more capital. The last year\u2019s Napa fires affected our ability to scale our customer base over the holiday season and hence our ability to raise the funds required to continue building awareness of Kuv\u00e9e.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "IntroNet",
  "desc": "Mike Krupit, CEO of IntroNet, a service for professionals to make and track introductions, wrote a lengthy post about the factors that contributed to the company\u2019s failure:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Chorus",
  "desc": "People started using it and then would bail after four weeks or eight weeks. They\u2019d get the flu or they\u2019d travel for work and drop the ball.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Sansaire",
  "desc": "We regret to share that Sansaire will be ceasing development of the Delta [cooking device] and the company will ultimately be closing its doors. In short, our relationship with the new production facility broke down and has exhausted available funding and manufacturing routes.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Baroo",
  "desc": "Despite Baroo\u2019s efforts to focus on providing dog walking and pet-sitting services to high-end rental buildings, the startup faced steep competition from well-funded companies that serve more cities.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Zoomer B2B food delivery service",
  "desc": "\u201cMany factors contributed to this decision including local delivery competition (UberEats, GrubHub, among others), Independent Contractor competition, and balancing long-term sustainability for Zoomer in Lexington against the service Zoomer provides restaurants and diners.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Otto digital locks",
  "desc": "Smart lock startup Otto CEO Sam Jadallah wrote a Medium post about the closure of his company, after an acquisition deal failed to go through.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Vidme video platform",
  "desc": "Many creators with millions of subscribers on YouTube and Facebook were initially attracted to Vidme\u2019s model, but faced difficulty transitioning audiences from their home platforms. Convincing people to use (and keep using) a new platform is hard, leaving many creators locked in. Both Facebook and YouTube also actively deprecate content shared from competing platforms (Vidme\u2019s social traffic dropped markedly once Facebook began to prioritize its native player).",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Doppler Labs\u2018 smart earbuds",
  "desc": "So what happened? To put it simply, over the past months, we took hundreds of meetings in an attempt to secure the necessary capital to continue running our business and build our next product \u2014 which would have been a true alternative to traditional hearing aids. However, we couldn\u2019t find the needed capital to develop another complex hardware product.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "The Juicero Cold-Press Juice \u201cPlatform\u201d",
  "desc": "In order to fulfill our mission, we announced last month that we would shift our resources to focus on lowering the price of the Press and Produce Packs. We began identifying ways that we could source, manufacture and distribute at a lower cost to consumers.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Blin.gy App",
  "desc": "Blin.gy founder David wrote a 1700-word Medium post with lessons from his startup\u2019s lifecycle. Three notable excerpts:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Teforia Tea Infusor",
  "desc": "In our mission to deliver the best tea experience, we didn\u2019t compromise on the Teforia Infuser technology, quality or the premium tea packaged within our Sips. The glass within the infusion globe and carafe are hand blown by a glass artisan, one at a time. We spent a tremendous amount of time pioneering our Sips tea container to be 90% compostable and completely recyclable. We went to these extraordinary lengths because we believe premium loose leaf tea should be delivered in the most delicate and sustainable way possible\u2026.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Jawbone",
  "desc": "The Information broke the news of Jawbone\u2019s demise based on insights from a source close to the company.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Hello\u2018s Sense smart sleep sensor",
  "desc": "It\u2019s with a heavy heart that I share with you the news that Hello will soon be shutting down. The past few weeks we have been working hard to find the right home for Sense and we are still focused on that.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Pearl Automation\u2018s wireless rear-view camera",
  "desc": "What happened: Early product sales disappointed, which was exacerbated by a high burn rate.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Wikimart\u2018s B2C e-commerce marketplace",
  "desc": "East-West Digital News reported on how international sanctions, mismanagement, and strategic missteps contributed to the failure of this Russian e-commerce platform that had raised $81M in disclosed funding. Six months prior to Wikimart\u2019s July 2017 demise, co-founder Maxim Faldin wrote the following note on the company\u2019s Facebook page.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Fresco News\u2018 social reporting platform",
  "desc": "The Outline referenced CB Insights\u2019 failure intelligence in an in-depth post-mortem on this digital media startup.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Doorman",
  "desc": "The startup sent a letter over the weekend letting customers know it would no longer be in business in two weeks\u2026.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Raptr",
  "desc": "Raptr, the online optimization platform founded by former pro gamer Dennis \u201cThresh\u201d Fong a decade ago, is about to be shuttered.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Sprig",
  "desc": "\u201cNo question, I\u2019m sad that the Sprig model did not work out,\u201d CEO Gagan Biyani said in an email circulated to the app\u2019s users. \u201cThe demand for Sprig\u2019s convenient, high-quality food was always incredibly high, but the complexity of owning meal production through delivery at scale was a challenge.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Beepi",
  "desc": "Riding on the hype of transportation startups and marketplaces, Beepi may have raised too much, too soon. \u201cThey were running the business to raise money, and then to get someone else to take it on,\u201d was how one person described it.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Auctionata Paddle8 AG",
  "desc": "Auctionata has been in decline since news of serious trade violations perpetrated by co-founder and former CEO Alexander Zacke came to light in March 2016, when Zacke and Auctionata board members were accused of illegally bidding on their own auctions.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Markafoni",
  "desc": "Markafoni was an online shopping destination for Turkish consumers, specialising in clothing and fashion accessories.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "lmzy",
  "desc": "Imzy was created by former Reddit employees Dan McComas and Jessica Moreno as a safer, friendlier version of the popular community site. This approach doesn\u2019t seem to have served Imzy well in the long run:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "HomeHero",
  "desc": "\u201cAlmost exactly one year ago, HomeHero lost its core identity when we were effectively forced to terminate our working relationships with 95% of our 1099 caregivers and required to adopt an inferior employment business model. In the process, HomeHero also lost a majority of its competitive differentiators in price, speed and scalability that allowed us to be so disruptive in 2014 and 2015, and it had nothing to do with competition.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "BTCJam",
  "desc": "BTCjam, a P2P marketplace launched in 2012 to borrow and lend using bitcoin, announced the company has made \u201cthe difficult decision\u201d to close up shop, according to multiple news sources. The platform cited regulatory challenges around bitcoin and said the difficulties introducing bitcoin technology to poor communities around the world were beyond its capacity.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "AudienceScience",
  "desc": "\u201cAudienceScience dedicated most of their energy to servicing P&G, and they jettisoned their media business, which was funding staff and development, to focus on growing their DMP business,\u201d Ramsey McGrory, CRO of Mediaocean, told AdExchanger. \u201cTaken together, it was a high-risk/high-reward strategy that didn\u2019t pan out.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Stayzilla",
  "desc": "Stayzilla CEO and co-founder Yogendra Vasupal was particularly reflective in his post, explaining how, as a founder, his own objectives were altered as the company ramped up.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "del.icio.us",
  "desc": "The once-loved \u2013 and much sold \u2013 social bookmarking site del.icio.us (or just Delicious, if you prefer), has changed hands for one final time. Rival service Pinboard has snapped up the site for a mere $35,000, and plans to close it down.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Bridj",
  "desc": "\u201cWe made the strategic choice to pursue a deal with a major car company who promised a close date for a sizable transaction in lieu of a traditional venture capital funding round. The close date timeline extended from weeks to months, as they sought to gain the appropriate internal approvals that we (and they) thought were already in place. Throughout, we remained convinced of the close strategic fit and both sides had every expectation that the transaction would close. Despite assurances, and all parties acting in the best of faith, that didn\u2019t happen.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Quixey",
  "desc": "Quixey, which revealed last month it was \u2018exploring strategic options,\u2019 has reportedly shut down\u2026 in part due to its inability to repay a loan provided by a shareholder, e-commerce firm Alibaba.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "AOptix Technologies",
  "desc": "Long-time Free-Space Optics (FSO) player AOptix has shut up shop and is selling off its assets at auction next week\u2026 the company is currently trying to shop around its intellectual property.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Quidsi",
  "desc": "After Amazon announced in March that it was planning to shut down Diapers.com and all the other eCommerce sites operated by Quidsi, the company it acquired in 2010 \u2014 the online retailer has pulled all of the Quidsi apps from its app store.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Mobeam",
  "desc": "Another company\u2019s dreams of changing the way we use coupons have ended in disappointment. Mobeam is no longer promising to \u201cbring consumers one step closer to phasing out paper coupons entirely,\u201d as it once did. Instead, it has now sold off its technology to Samsung, and has left the coupon industry trying to make something out of the new mobile couponing standard it helped to create.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Guvera",
  "desc": "Australian music streaming company Guvera has reportedly stopped operating, with its co-founder and biggest financial backer walking away from the project. The startup, which was established in 2008, privately raised $185 million before its $100 million initial public offering was blocked by the Australian Securities Exchange last year.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "snapCard",
  "desc": "\u201cWe had to look at the writing on the wall,\u201d said Wyre CEO Michael Dunworth. \u201cWe had a lot of competitors at the start \u2014 we were competing directly with BitPay \u2014 and they were very good at what they did. But we just didn\u2019t feel as confident in that market.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Aquion Energy",
  "desc": "Company CEO, Scott Pearson, commented: \u201cCreating a new electrochemistry and an associated battery platform at commercial scale is extremely complex, time-consuming, and very capital intensive. Despite our best efforts to fund the company and continue to fuel our growth, the Company has been unable to raise the growth capital needed to continue operating as a going concern.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Table8 (aka TableNow)",
  "desc": "\u201cNearly three years ago, we set out on a mission to make finding and booking great restaurants easier and more democratic. In creating the Table8 Dining Club, we have enabled simpler dining discovery across the US.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "LOYAL3",
  "desc": "Loyal3, a commission-free brokerage that initially emphasized IPO shares before transforming into a discount broker, announced Wednesday it will close its doors May 19.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Plastc",
  "desc": "The single page farewell letter the company website has been reduced to says, \u201cFor the past 3 years, our mission here at Plastc was to build and deliver the most technically ambitious smart card on the planet. After making enormous leaps in development, product innovation and progress towards our goal, Plastc has exhausted all of its options to raise the money it needs to continue.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Rithmio",
  "desc": "Rithmio, a Chicago startup that developed software for wearable devices, has shut down.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "ChaCha",
  "desc": "Advertising revenue declined sharply [2016], leaving the company unable to service its debt, and no suitors took a bite. So its secured lender, which [founder Scott] Jones didn\u2019t name, recently emptied ChaCha\u2019s bank accounts.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Dealstruck",
  "desc": "Dealstruck closed its doors after more than three years in business. It did not close because the customer base isn\u2019t there or due to a lack of demand for its lending products. It closed because a deal fell through.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Shoes.com",
  "desc": "Doug Stephens, founder of consultancy Retail Prophet, said the company suffered from having too few managers from the fashion industry and too many from the technology sector. And customer service \u201cwasn\u2019t where it needed to be to give online customers the level of confidence necessary \u2013 especially in such a tricky category \u2026 It seems a matter of biting off way more than they could chew through a spate of acquisitions. Despite all the appearances of growth, market awareness was still quite low.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Lily Robotics",
  "desc": "In the past year, the Lily family has had many ups and downs. We have been delighted by the steady advancements in the quality of our product and have received great feedback from our Beta program. At the same time, we have been racing against a clock of ever-diminishing funds. Over the past few months, we have tried to secure financing in order to unlock our manufacturing line and ship our first units \u2013 but have been unable to do this. As a result, we are deeply saddened to say that we are planning to wind down the company and offer refunds to customers \u2026",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "VidAngel",
  "desc": "The judge has issued a preliminary injunction against VidAngel, requiring that we pull down all the studios\u2019 content. We are seeking a stay of this injunction, but if our efforts fail, we will need to take down the movies of all major studios.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "App.net",
  "desc": "Ultimately, we failed to overcome the chicken-and-egg issue between application developers and user adoption of those applications. We envisioned a pool of differentiated, fast-growing third-party applications would sustain the numbers needed to make the business work. Our initial developer adoption exceeded expectations, but that initial excitement didn\u2019t ultimately translate into a big enough pool of customers for those developers.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "TaskBob",
  "desc": "\u2026a solid [home services] business is created only by building scalability and profitability. And to achieve those in a low margin business and in a tough external market proved unexpectedly daunting. More than what anyone could have expected.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "ChangeCoin",
  "desc": "We\u2019ve explored dozens of options [to stay in business] thoroughly over the past few months, and came up empty. It\u2019s time. Among other complications, the monthly costs to maintain the servers, services, and customer support to keep the site running are not insignificant. Furthermore, the potential legal liabilities that may arise make a volunteer effort unappealing.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Buildzar",
  "desc": "Buildzar started off as a pure-play B2C ecommerce business. In June, it pivoted to a subscription model. Earlier, we used to generate leads and convert them into transactions ourselves. But, after the pivot, we were just doing lead generation and selling those leads in the market \u2026 When transactions failed to pick up, we decided to wind up operations, which in my opinion was the right decision.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Vinaya",
  "desc": "Whilst we ended up going by way of the system of founding and creating a buyer electronics corporation, it grew to become apparent that the projected amount of expansion for the B2C company by yourself was unlikely to be ready to maintain the expenses linked with the velocity of technological innovation necessary \u2026 to continue being aggressive in this space.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Besomebody",
  "desc": "Shaikh cited three reasons for the decision. Most importantly, the demand wasn\u2019t there, especially when it came to repeat bookings. He said the business would only work if \u201ctens of millions\u201d of people were booking one to two experiences per year, and that just wasn\u2019t going to happen. Second, people were using the app to book fun, one-time experiences, not to \u201ctruly learn\u201d about their passions. And that led to the third problem, which was that the app only appealed to people who had expendable cash to put toward fun experiences, not to the full \u201cmulti-million-member community\u201d that interacts with #besomebody content on Twitter and elsewhere on the web.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "BriefMe Media",
  "desc": "In short, due to a lack of funding, we are now beginning the process of winding down BriefMe and will be turning off the servers next week \u2026 Our users are extremely passionate, but after pursuing every possible path, we no longer have a sustainable avenue forward for the company. Over recent months we\u2019ve been developing a significant update however we haven\u2019t been able to secure another round of funding to finish and get this work to market. Without sufficient capital to provide BriefMe the energy and attention it deserves we have decided to move forward in the best possible manner for our team, supporters and users.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Angel Sensor",
  "desc": "We\u2019ve been through a really rough patch over these past months. We\u2019ve experienced engineering and financing difficulties, downsized our R&D and fought many battles to keep the project alive.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Loanbase/BitLendingClub",
  "desc": "We\u2019ve worked extremely hard to build a platform and a community which is uniquely positioned to provide the Bitcoin ecosystem with a greatly needed service. However, over the last year or so, the regulatory pressures has been increasing to the point that it is no longer feasible to maintain the operation of the platform. We are regretfully announcing that we will have to begin terminating the services effective immediately.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Rendeevoo",
  "desc": "\u2026 we never managed to raise the next round in time so \u2026 the ugly reality slapped us hard. Bills were piling up on the business but also on our personal lives. We had to look for short-term income by taking small jobs as individuals and that\u2019s what we did in order to pay our dues for October and November. In the meantime, we started discussing a potential exit with interested parties. Again, nothing fruitful happened on that front.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Omniref",
  "desc": "This isn\u2019t how we hoped things would turn out, but unfortunately, we were never able to find a sustainable business model that justifies the (considerable) expense of running the site. Because of the large number of developers who have come to depend on our services, we\u2019ve kept things running for as long as we possibly could, but unfortunately, there[\u2018s] no practical path forward from here.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "bitphone",
  "desc": "After 1.5 years in operation, bitphone.net is shutting down. WE DIDN\u2019T GET HACKED, NOT ONCE! And believe me, they tried! All customer funds are secure and accounted for! (And we are happy to say that!) Unfortunately we\u2019ve had too many users abuse our phone service! Our underlying carrier service now requires we collect your identification when placing calls. \u2013 We won\u2019t do it \u2026 This is an unfortunate outcome, we had recently enhanced our service considerably! We don\u2019t want to collect your identification, so we have no choice but to close the service.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "All Romance eBooks",
  "desc": "It is with a great sadness that we announce the closing of All Romance eBooks, LLC. For the first year since opening in 2006, we will be posting a loss. Despite efforts to maintain and grow our market share, sales and profits have declined. The financial forecast for 2017 isn\u2019t hopeful. We\u2019ve accepted that there is not a viable path forward.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Opsh",
  "desc": "\u2026ultimately we fell victim to the notoriously difficult investment chasm \u2013 the chasm that exists when a sparky start-up needs to move into a global-looking machine. And so, for some of you this won\u2019t come as a surprise. There is a distinctly unsexy side to running a start-up that made every effort to push-through almost impossible.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Plain Vanilla Games",
  "desc": "In 2015 it was announced that NBC was going to develop a quiz show based on the game, which was supposed to premiere in spring 2017.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Pixelmage Games",
  "desc": "For the last year, our team has worked tirelessly to make the game we\u2019ve dreamed about making, and with your support, and the support of our investors, we were able to get the game into Early Access. Unfortunately sales fell short of what we needed to continue development. We knew going in that most startups don\u2019t make it, and as an indie game studio we hoped we would be the exception to that rule, but as it turned out we weren\u2019t.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Scarf",
  "desc": "Alberta Health Services issued a cease-and-desist order to Scarf, shutting down the meal sharing service last month. In a written statement, Alberta Health Services said its duty is to \u201ckeep Albertans safe. This includes working with food operators to ensure they are meeting the provincial standards required to serve safe and healthy food to Albertans.\u201d AHS says all kitchens producing food for public consumption must have proper permits. Scarf cooks did not have those permits.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Shelfie",
  "desc": "We regret to inform you that Shelfie will be ceasing operations on January 31, 2017 \u2026 We started Shelfie with the idea of connecting books and readers and we have worked hard over the past four years to make that a reality. We are grateful for the support we have received from amazing readers like you, who have been a part of Shelfie.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "The Social Radio",
  "desc": "The Social Radio began as a side project \u2026 raised money as a startup, and then became side project again when we couldn\u2019t scale it. We didn\u2019t see it getting big enough to have the impact we had hoped for, so we stopped updating the apps as our lives and jobs became busy, but people kept using them and we believed in the product, so we kept the apps running. But we have reached a point where the cost of running the apps cannot be covered, and we couldn\u2019t get enough support to keep it running.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "WhatsOnRent",
  "desc": "\u201cThe shutdown was a conscious business decision. We could not see the next round of funding coming. We had to change the consumer mindset and without that pre-Series A funding of couple of million dollars it was not possible. It was also a business decision that this business might not work.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Vrideo",
  "desc": "With only $2 million raised, we\u2019ve accomplished all this up against competitors that have three to 50 times (!) our funding \u2026 Unfortunately, though, we\u2019ve now stretched this modest funding as far as it could take us, especially in light of the rising costs associated with our growth \u2026",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "The Happy Home Company",
  "desc": "The company\u2019s website now carries a brief message announcing the shutdown, explaining, \u201cDespite the many great things Happy Home had going for it \u2014 supportive customers, a large problem to solve, and great investors \u2014 ultimately we weren\u2019t able to make the transition from a scrappy startup to self-sustaining company.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "SunEdison",
  "desc": "SunEdison at its core is a boring construction company, that earns the trust of its institutional investors by being boring and managing risks \u2026 [but the company\u2019s senior executives] didn\u2019t want to be boring, they wanted to be a technology company.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Wash.io",
  "desc": "\u201cWe generated millions in revenue and hundreds of thousands of orders, but the nature of startups is being innovative and venturing into uncharted territory: sometimes you make it, sometimes you don\u2019t. We are proud of what we accomplished along the way: over one million items of clothing dry cleaned, and over 21,000 tons of laundry washed and folded!",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Drugstore.com",
  "desc": "[Walgreen\u2019s wants] to make sure they can invest more of the equity in Walgreens.com. Drugstore.com and Beauty.com are distractions.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Maximum Play",
  "desc": "For a variety of reasons, more on the side of the money guys and not because of us, the transaction didn\u2019t go through \u2026 We had several groups looking to acquire us, and for a variety of reasons those didn\u2019t pan out \u2026 We were building an enterprise software platform. It was a very expensive proposition, with high potential rewards \u2026 There was a high demand and high interest in what we were doing. That is what was so disappointing. I think you will see several companies license our technology \u2026 This has nothing to do with the competition. It has to do with the funding issue. I think there is huge demand for new approaches with game engine technology.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Skully Helmets",
  "desc": "[The Wellers, Skully\u2019s founders] routinely demanded [that their accountant] engage in fraudulent bookkeeping practices designed to defraud investors in Skully into believing that Skully funds were being used for business purposes, when in fact, the funds were being used to pay the personal expenses of the Wellers \u2026 In hindsight, Skully appeared to be kind of shady for some time. The company continuously pushed back its promised release date while sucking down $2,446,824 from Indie GoGo backers\u2014that\u2019s 979 percent of the $250,000 \u201cgoal\u201d they \u201cneeded\u201d to get running.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "GoZoomo",
  "desc": "We tried to build a fast-scaleable business, but realized that the business model does not work. So it is better that this capital gets deployed elsewhere instead of us hoarding it and hoping that something good happens.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Picturelife",
  "desc": "Nobody is interested in cloud storage anymore. It\u2019s been pretty challenging. Google Photos and Amazon\u2014they took a huge chunk of [the cloud photo storage market]. And I think it\u2019s going to increase over time \u2026 Is there a business for a small player? I don\u2019t think so any more.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Hivebeat",
  "desc": "We\u2019ve tried all the things we wanted to try and we have a pretty good sense of what went wrong:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Electroloom",
  "desc": "The bottom line is that we simply do not have the financial ability to continue supporting the company \u2026 The reality is that a lot of events factored into our inability to raise: slow technical progress, significant scientific risk, a lack of an MVP, and a poorly defined market opportunity.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "MobileIgniter",
  "desc": "What we found was that the sales cycle for the market we specifically wanted to go after is just way too long for a small company to absorb. Originally, we estimated that the sales cycle would be somewhere between three and six months. We then adjusted that to say it\u2019s nine to 12 months \u2026 We hope to see IoT embraced by manufacturing and ag in the state and in the region. But it\u2019s not going to be because of us.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Sonitus Medical",
  "desc": "We took a prevalent surgical treatment into the office where we reduced the cost by half and we significantly impact patient safety because there was no surgery involved and we made it more effective \u2026 They [The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)] arbitrarily draw a line saying, \u201cNo, you are not qualified for coverage because the way we draw a line between what\u2019s a prosthetic and what\u2019s a hearing aid is whether it involves surgery or not.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Gawker Media",
  "desc": "I wish I\u2019d known how litigious Hulk Hogan was \u2026 I\u2019m kind of glad I didn\u2019t [hold back from publishing the tape] because if every publisher and every editor made editorial decisions based on who is scary and well funded and litigious and uses the court system to exercise power, to edit what is out there about them, then the news would look very very different than it does.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Karhoo",
  "desc": "Ultimately, [its] structure \u2026 is based on very large economies of scale \u2026 building out any transport service before it can get to that scale is extremely capital intensive \u2026 Karhoo, however, didn\u2019t appear to have the reach with consumers to achieve anything like enough scale. [Its shutdown letter states that the] \u201cKarhoo staff around the world in London, New York, Singapore and Tel Aviv have, over the past 18-months [sic], worked tirelessly to make Karhoo a success. Many of them have worked unpaid for the last six weeks in an effort to get the business to a better place. Unfortunately, by the time the new management team took control last week, it was clear that the financial situation was pretty dire, and Karhoo was not able to find a backer.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Kitchensurfing",
  "desc": "The startup had originally allowed customers to book chefs days in advance for at-home dinner parties, but last year moved to an on-demand model. Neither version of the service, though, produced enough demand to be sustainable for a venture-backed business. The company was competing in a crowded market, as better-capitalized companies like Blue Apron and Plated pushed the concept of meal-kit delivery while startups like DoorDash, Postmates and Caviar started delivering meals from popular restaurants that didn\u2019t offer delivery on their own.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Take Eat Easy",
  "desc": "The reasons are that 1) our revenues do not cover our costs, and 2) we are not able to close a third fundraiser \u2026. In March 2016, after having been rejected by 114 VC funds, we signed a term sheet with a French, state-owned, logistics group, for a 30M euro investment. Unfortunately, after 3 months of intensive due diligence, their board rejected the deal and they ended up withdrawing their offer. We were negotiating with them under an exclusivity agreement, didn\u2019t have a plan B, and only had a couple of weeks of run-way left.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "PepperTap",
  "desc": "\u2026as we forayed into smaller cities, delivery networks got more fragmented and lethargic. This needed to be researched more and understood better. We found that while tiers 2 and 3 of Indian cities are being served to some extent by new-world logistics providers doing cool things like one-day shipping, there was a whole slew of tier 3.5+ cities which are connected to the world of ecommerce but, in simple terms, have to sometimes wait up to 30 days to receive their orders.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "BlackJet",
  "desc": "\u201cWe probably did more with less than anyone but it\u2019s a critical mass business\u2026 There\u2019s a reason why \u2018critical\u2019 is part of \u2018critical mass,'\u201d [BlackJet CEO Dean] Rotchin tells Fortune. \u201cThe members were super supportive, the VCs wanted to see our progress continue over a longer period prior to jumping in. There are some aggressive interesting models out there today, someone will make this work.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Dinner Lab",
  "desc": "It\u2019s just a really challenging logistical marketplace. For us, producing unique events presented big challenges.\u2026 We were trying to scale a business that was very logistically complicated and we were always screwing up. It was also really challenging to get solid, consistent margins. We stacked the deck against ourselves.\u2026 There were a lot of variables that were difficult to manage. We had an ever-changing landscape of staff, sourcing ingredients and everything else. That\u2019s also what made the product very cool.\u2026",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Yeloha",
  "desc": "While our peer-to-peer model was accepted by hosts and subscribers alike with real excitement, installing \u201cHosted\u201d solar systems at scale depended on 3rd party project finance by banks or specialized solar funds.\u2026 But we couldn\u2019t convince traditional project financiers to test our thesis. We were forced to self-finance the first couple of projects as a proof of concept, but did not have the resources or runway to continue.\u2026",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "SharpScholar",
  "desc": "The stakeholders in education\u2014students, teachers, administration, and the government (budgets, policy, voters)\u2014operate very interdependently. This means that if a teacher wants to use a tool or software he or she has to keep in mind the students, school policy, budget considerations, and even get approval from the administration.\u2026",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Backplane",
  "desc": "The problem was that [CEO Scott] Harrison says the big-name VC money came with tough liquidation preferences that would give those investors returns first if Backplane had a successful exit.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Shuddle",
  "desc": "For over two years, the company touted safe and reliable transportation for children via its family-focused ride-sharing service.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Jumio",
  "desc": "However, it [Jumio] competed with similar technologies like Card.io, which PayPal purchased, and more recently it was impacted by the launch of Apple Pay which made mobile checkout more seamless.\u2026",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "TrustBuddy",
  "desc": "According to the board, a 44 Million SEK ($5.4M) discrepancy was uncovered. The \u201cCompany has used lenders\u2019 capital in violation of their instructions, or, without their permission.\u201d Due to the extreme nature of the uncovered misdeeds, Swedish police have been contacted. Members of the previous management team have been placed on suspension during the investigation. The misconduct was said to be \u201clikely in place since the TrustBuddy platform began operation\u201d.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Fashion Project",
  "desc": "[CEO Anna] Palmer says that much of the $7 million the company raised last year \u201cwent into the hiring and the systems needed to sort donations and get them up on the site. We were receiving thousands of items daily.\u201d\u2026",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "PostGhost",
  "desc": "On July 6, 2016, PostGhost.com received the following email from Twitter, which says in part that \u201cpostghost.com displays deleted Tweets and is currently violating our Developer Agreement and Policy\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Chef Nightly",
  "desc": "\u201cWe focused on creating more transparency into the existing supply of restaurant food and simplifying the ordering process for users,\u201d CEO Michael Sheeley wrote when the company shut down. \u201cThat just wasn\u2019t enough in a crowded marketplace.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Leap Transit",
  "desc": "Leap, which raised $2.5 million from some of the industry\u2019s best-known investors, charged riders $6 to get across San Francisco, nearly three times the cost of riding a city bus. Its primary draw was luxury. Each bus had a wood-trimmed interior outfitted with black leather seats, individual USB ports and Wi-Fi. The buses also offered a steady stream of high-end snacks, sold via app.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Rdio",
  "desc": "\u201cRdio, I guess, made the mistake of trying to be sustainable too early,\u201d says [early employee Wilson] Miner. \u201cThat classic startup mistake of worrying about being profitable and having a business that makes any sense before you\u2019ve reached this astronomical growth curve. Which is partly the trap of the business model itself \u2014 because of the content licensing deals, the margins for the business were so incredibly thin. No matter what we did, the labels made the lion\u2019s share of the revenue. You have to make it up with extreme volume, which is why you see Spotify going after every human being in the world.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "KiOR",
  "desc": "Different parties disagree about which side was responsible\u2014Khosla Ventures or [chemical engineer Paul] O\u2019Connor and the CEO\u2014but most agree that KiOR made poor hiring decisions as it staffed up. The result was a relative preponderance of lab researchers with Ph.D.s and a dearth of people with technical, operational experience running energy facilities. The lack of people with real operational experience \u201churt KiOR a lot,\u201d says O\u2019Connor.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "SideCar",
  "desc": "In short, we were forced to shut down operations and sell. We were unable to compete against Uber, a company that raised more capital than any other in history and is infamous for its anti-competitive behavior. The legacy of Sidecar is that we out-innovated Uber but still failed to win the market. We failed \u2013 for the most part \u2013 because Uber is willing to win at any cost and they have practically limitless capital to do it.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Healthspot",
  "desc": "Jason Gorevic, CEO of telemedicine company Teladoc, expressed his belief that there are three critical elements to success in this industry segment: the technology platform, clinical capabilities and consumer engagement. \u201cConsumer engagement is hard to do,\u201d Gorevic said. This is where HealthSpot may have fallen down. Teladoc has two revenue streams: a per-member, per-month fee it charges its partners, plus a per-visit fee. \u201cBecause we have both of those revenue sources, we can pour that money back into our customers.\u201d \u2026 Also, Teladoc is purely a software company, so it doesn\u2019t have the overhead associated with building and delivering kiosks \u2026 A bigger issue, according to [CEO of American Well Roy] Schoenberg, is that HealthSpot required patients and providers to pre-arrange appointments; it was not truly telemedicine on demand. \u201cYou actually have to build a lot of administration around it,\u201d he said.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Flytenow",
  "desc": "On Friday, December 18, 2015 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied our request to overturn the Federal Aviation Administration\u2019s ban on Flytenow and other online flight-sharing websites\u2026We started Flytenow over two years ago to share the joy of flying by allowing aviation enthusiasts to meet pilots and go flying together\u2026Unfortunately, we are left with no choice but to shut down Flytenow. However, we are still fighting as pilots to make this happen.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Delivree King",
  "desc": "\u201cWe had scaled to about 15 cities but it was becoming very difficult to sustain operations at that level with no funds. This business requires money to scale up and without funds it\u2019s very difficult to break even,\u201d said [co-founder Akash] Sharma.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Top 10",
  "desc": "The hotel industry is particularly challenging given the size, reach and budgets of the big players. At Top10 we did an amazing job innovating in this tough space, but ultimately the competitive landscape made it too expensive for us to scale, and for that reason we decided to close the company.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Prismatic",
  "desc": "\u201cFour years ago, we set out to build a personalized news reader that would change the way people consume content,\u201d the Prismatic team wrote in a blog post. \u201cFor many of you, we did just that. But we also learned content distribution is a tough business and we\u2019ve failed to grow at a rate that justifies continuing to support our Prismatic News products.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Carrier IQ",
  "desc": "Knowledge of what (our) software tracked unbeknownst to the average user clearly hit a nerve with a public already skeptical about how private information is regarded by large corporations and other organizations for their own purposes \u2026 And so, unsurprisingly, following the revelations, there was a windfall of announcements about which companies were using it (and were not using it) to collect information; lawsuits over privacy violations and legislation drafted to tighten controls for the future. Some of those class-action suits, it appears, have been settled. As AT&T did not acquire the full company, we understand that it will not be liable for any outstanding litigation or settlements against CIQ.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Laguna Pharmaceuticals",
  "desc": "Two months into its roughly 600-patient initial Phase 3 trial, called Restore SR, researchers started to see side effects that would not have enabled Laguna to market the drug as widely as they had initially anticipated, [Laguna CEO Bob] Baltera said. \u201cWe were actually very surprised,\u201d he said. \u201cThe [prior] Phase 2 study was robust.\u201d Baltera declined to say much about the side effects, describing them only as \u201csafety signals.\u201d \u201cThe normal response in this business is to find a way forward,\u201d Baltera said. \u201cBut it just wasn\u2019t going to be commercially viable. Rather than trying to find any path forward, we decided to shut the company down.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Pixable",
  "desc": "We achieved what we set out to do, even if the final result didn\u2019t end up with us becoming the next Buzzfeed. We never wanted to be the next Buzzfeed. We always wanted to be who we were, Pixable. And it was working. Unfortunately, circumstances [despite reaching 9.4M active users and 58M monthly video views] \u2026 made it difficult to raise money and continue on.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Bonafide",
  "desc": "In the email, co-founders Karthik Balasubramanian and Brian Moyer stated their belief that the movement of investor interest away from consumer-facing applications for the technology was also a factor. Balasubramanian and Moyer wrote: \u201cWhile investment and activity continues to occur it is focused on private and alternate chains rather than bitcoin or other public chains where Bonafide operates.\u201d As a result, the co-founders said they saw \u201clittle chance\u201d that they would be able to generate revenue, pivot their product or secure additional funding.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Dine In",
  "desc": "\u201cWe knew acquisition was the best course of action,\u201d says [Evan] Graj. That eventually led to Dine In being approached in February by a major Internet company active in the online food space, and it\u2019s my understanding that by April \u2014 and significant legal fees later \u2014 a sale had been agreed. Then at the eleventh hour the deal unexpectedly fell through, leaving the restaurant delivery startup \u201chigh and dry\u201d and its unnamed acquirer a \u201cno-show\u201d. Adds Graj: \u201cThey backed out leaving us with a huge legal bill both for Dine In and myself personally, a huge debt to note holders, and no VCs to turn to. A hard lesson to learn and one I\u2019ll be taking into my next venture.\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Quirky",
  "desc": "Steering the ship \u2014 handling all of the engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and retailing, even when you\u2019re taking 90 percent of the subsequent profits \u2014 was ultimately too expensive of a proposition, especially in comparison to other, less-handholding-oriented start-ups. \u201cThe reason why Kickstarter makes a ton of money is they don\u2019t have to do anything besides put up a website,\u201d Kaufman notes.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Homejoy",
  "desc": "CEO Adora Cheung said the \u201cdeciding factor\u201d was the four lawsuits it was fighting over whether its workers should be classified as employees or contractors. None of them were class actions yet, but they made fundraising that much harder.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Selltag",
  "desc": "Escribano said that the company\u2019s main problem was user engagement and retention. \u201cIn every marketplace you have the chicken-and-egg problem with buyers and sellers. We tried to capture them both organically and via paid marketing, but it wasn\u2019t enough. Getting sellers was somewhat easy, but buyers much more complicated\u201d",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Zen99",
  "desc": "We had a user acquisition problem, and the best route involved a competitor\u2026The best acquisition method I saw was tapping into an existing network of people who had filed 1099s: like Intuit\u2019s hundreds of millions of tax returns, many with 1099 income. Unfortunately, Intuit released an identical competing product to us. It\u2019s not ideal when your best user acquisition strategy is partnering with a company who has a competing product.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "QBotix",
  "desc": "Each member of our now pared-down team knew exactly how much runway the company had remaining, the status of our strategic talks, and the acknowledged long odds we faced as a going concern. To their credit, they remained focused, productive and on-task until our final day \u2014 a remarkable expression of dedication to the mission and to each other. Sadly, and in spite of the achievements, we simply ran out of time and cash to finish the job.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Vatler",
  "desc": "We started VATLER during the summer of 2014 as an on-demand valet service in San Francisco \u2026 We received a phone call from the police department telling us that our permits had not been granted and they gave us a warning because we were operating illegally in most of our locations\u2026In 2 weeks, we lost major accounts and 30% of our revenue streams without any perspective of growth. We tried to make some restaurants pay but it was just not working. Our model was no longer valid and were forced to cease operations in the city on September 7th.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Better",
  "desc": "Better had one of the best consumer user experiences out there but that isn\u2019t enough. One of my formative Internet experiences was being part of the founding team of Microsoft Sidewalk (later acquired by CitySearch) in 1995\u2026[Sidewalk was] too far ahead of its time with some user experiences only coming into the mainstream now. The Internet audience was too small, the bandwidth too low and the digital advertising too nascent. My hunch is Better faced similar issues. As much as I\u2019d love for healthcare to be a consumer-driven market, I\u2019m afraid we\u2019re at least 3-5 years away from it no longer being \u201ctoo early\u201d.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Shopa",
  "desc": "Shoppers were more tight-lipped about their purchases than originally hoped, and despite attracting 1 million users, the fear that pals might buy the same frocks outweighed the desire for discounts.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Secret",
  "desc": "Unfortunately, Secret does not represent the vision I had when starting the company, so I believe it\u2019s the right decision for myself, our investors and our team.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Zirtual",
  "desc": "So what went wrong? Short answer: burn. Burn is that tricky thing that isn\u2019t discussed much in the Silicon Valley community because access to capital, in good times, seems so easy. Burn is the amount of money that goes out the door, over and above what comes in, so if you earn $100 in a month but pay out $150, your burn is $50.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Circa",
  "desc": "Our ongoing plan was to monetize Circa News through the building of a strategy we had spent a long time developing but unfortunately we were unable to close a significant investment prior to becoming resource constrained.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Kato",
  "desc": "Slack ate the world and we failed to gain traction. Our SAML- and SCIM-enabled enterprise product had no takers from larger companies.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "The Last Guide Company",
  "desc": "Unfortunately, having failed to execute on our original vision, we recently made the decision to wind down the company.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "UDesign",
  "desc": "It turns out we underestimated the complexity of the project, and overestimated our ability to complete it on a limited budget should, closer to launch, any complications arise.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Wattage",
  "desc": "I suppose our failure can be summed up quite easily: An inability to show traction.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Patterbuzz",
  "desc": "Everything was going good. But we always had one issue. We never had enough money in our bank. and This became the cause of our death. We ran out of money.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Nebula",
  "desc": "At the same time, we are deeply disappointed that the market will likely take another several years to mature. As a venture backed start up, we did not have the resources to wait.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "DoneByNone",
  "desc": "Here\u2019s the long story: we\u2019re a small start-up, and as you can imagine, life has been quite tough for small e-commerce retailers \u2013 and we went to hell and hopefully are on our way back from there. While we were focusing on other things that needed solving, we took our eyes off you and your issues.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Brawker",
  "desc": "However, our growth rate did not meet our expectations, and the service does not scale as we would have expected to.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "ProtoExchange",
  "desc": "Unfortunately, our attempts to change the face of manufacturing weren\u2019t aligning with our original vision. As a result, we\u2019ve opted to step away from ProtoExchange and re-evaluate our position in the manufacturing sector.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Balanced",
  "desc": "Unfortunately, we haven\u2019t been able to reach the escape velocity necessary to be a large, innovative, independent player in the payments space and have decided not to continue building Balanced.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Wardrobe Wake-Up",
  "desc": "Ultimately, we were unable to secure outside funding at a time of critical growth and did not have the resources to fulfill demand on our own.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Why Own It",
  "desc": "Unfortunately, not everyone who likes an app recommends it to friends and family. And besides that, they got stuck with the chicken-egg-problem.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Melotic",
  "desc": "After much deliberation, we at Melotic have decided to take the unfortunate step of winding down the digital asset exchange. Simply put, we did not experience enough growth in this product to justify the ongoing costs of development, maintenance, and support. However, we have exciting new products in development, and we will be focusing our resources on that.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Grooveshark",
  "desc": "As part of a settlement agreement with the major record companies, we have agreed to cease operations immediately, wipe clean all the data on our servers and hand over ownership of this website, our mobile apps and intellectual property, including our patents and copyrights.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "GigaOm",
  "desc": "Business, much like life, is not a movie and not everyone gets to have a story book ending.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Digital Royalty",
  "desc": "Some of these shifts were in our control and some were not. In order to honor our core values, which have been the epicenter of our culture, we have decided to hang up our crown.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Ordr.in",
  "desc": "Learn 5 lessons from major direct-to-consumer brands \u2014 like Peloton and Casper \u2014 that faced disaster.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Talentpad",
  "desc": "We failed to figure out a scalable business for a big enough market. One of the things that our entire team has been passionate about is making a big impact to a wide ranging audience. We could not figure out a way to achieve that.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "This Is My Jam",
  "desc": "But as these platforms matured and consolidated, streams moved from the web into apps, and more sophisticated licensing and geographic controls meant \u201csorry, this cannot be played here\u201d messages became the norm rather than the exception.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "37Coins",
  "desc": "The decision to cease operations and to shut down our service was difficult. Despite the best of intentions, we were unable to deliver a quality product that showed product-market fit.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Campus",
  "desc": "Despite continued attempts to alter the company\u2019s current business model and explore alternative ones, we were unable to make Campus into an economically viable business.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Lumos",
  "desc": "We had never used the existing home automation products in our homes. We were not experts in the IoT sector. When you have new at something, you give yourself the famous Dunning Kruger Pass on your decisions.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "ratemyspeech",
  "desc": "Eventually I had to realise that our basic concept was flawed. Most people (95+%) just don\u2019t care enough about their presentations.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "RewardMe",
  "desc": "Don\u2019t scale until you\u2019re ready for it. Cash is king, and you need to extend your runway as long as possible until you\u2019ve found product market fit.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Poliana",
  "desc": "The sad truth is that it\u2019s very hard to make money on something that deserves to be free.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Kinly",
  "desc": "By postponing the investor challenge, we also postponed\u200a\u2014\u200aand thereby ignored\u200a\u2014\u200athe distribution challenge. And Kinly is dead because of it.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Kolos",
  "desc": "With Kolos, we did a lot of things right, but it was useless because we ignored the single most important aspect every startup should focus on first: the right product.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "College Inside View",
  "desc": "I overestimated the likelihood that I successfully raise money\u2026I underestimated people\u2019s distrust and reluctance to try unfamiliar products\u2026I underestimated the importance of design.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "ComboCats Studio",
  "desc": "And maybe it\u2019s just me, but I underestimate the work required for UI, even with fully prototyped wireframes, every time. It was hard to build it correctly from the start.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Bitshuva",
  "desc": "What I didn\u2019t understand was, you charge not for how much work it is for you. You charge how much the service is worth.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Allmyapps",
  "desc": "An additional 25 startup post-mortems have been added, including more recently failed additions from this year including 99dresses (Fenox VC), Dinnr, Unifyo (EC1 Capital) and VoterTide (Optimas Group).",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "99dresses",
  "desc": "And the rest of the conversation explained why they would not be doing that. My stomach dropped. I knew they were our best shot of getting the money, and some of the angels who had previously invested were interested in coming in but only if I could get a VC to lead it, probably for some oversight. We now had very little cash left, and very little time to find someone else.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Dinnr",
  "desc": "This turns out to be the original sin of Dinnr\u200a\u2014\u200athere never was an opportunity. And whatever we did later to try to breathe life into it (iterating on the website, different marketing tactics) was akin to giving aspirin to a deathbed patient.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Seismic Video",
  "desc": "Sure, it was seven years ago, pre-iPhone and pre-Android, so it was ahead of its time, we had to use Adobe Flash on a browser which sucked in so many ways I can\u2019t even start to explain how bad it was. Technology would be so much better and more important all mobile today.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Treehouse Logic",
  "desc": "Startups fail when they are not solving a market problem. We were not solving a large enough problem that we could universally serve with a scalable solution. We had great technology, great data on shopping behavior, great reputation as a though leader, great expertise, great advisors, etc, but what we didn\u2019t have was technology or business model that solved a pain point in a scalable way.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Backchat",
  "desc": "Unfortunately we were not able to adapt fast enough to changing market and product conditions which quickly began to show in usage metrics. With a feed product on the horizon all looked well until our funding began to dry up. Deals fell through leaving me in the difficult position to close Backchat and YouTell.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Patient Communicator",
  "desc": "I realized that many of the true money-making businesses in healthcare really aren\u2019t about optimizing delivery of primary care. This is a longer discussion but I realized, essentially, that we had no customers because no one was really interested in the model we were pitching. Doctors want more patients, not an efficient office.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Twitpic",
  "desc": "Unfortunately we do not have the resources to fend off a large company like Twitter to maintain our mark which we believe whole heartedly is rightfully ours. Therefore, we have decided to shut down Twitpic.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Berg",
  "desc": "We\u2019ve not reached a sustainable business in connected products. But: There\u2019s our troop!",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Wishberg",
  "desc": "We set very high goals for us when we raised our first investment in April 2013. As a startup, data is your best friend. Reviewing those goals at the end of the year, we realised that we have trailed behind on few of them. For us a team, we have always believed in chasing bigger dreams and not take up smaller challenges.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "GreenGar Studios",
  "desc": "If you still remember my pitch: \u201cWe already made $1 million. Let\u2019s talk about $1 billion.\u201d Maybe one day that statement will come true, and I\u2019m still working very hard on that. However, it will not be with my GreenGar chapter.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Rivet & Sway",
  "desc": "If only running a business were straightforward enough to boil down to one thing I would change to effect a different outcome! Hindsight is 20/20 (no glasses needed), so there are a lot of things I would do differently. Here are a few at the top of my list:",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Dijiwan",
  "desc": "A good product idea and a strong technical team are not a guarantee of a sustainable business.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Wantful",
  "desc": "What we did not accomplish yet is the kind of highly accelerated growth required to secure later-stage venture capital, despite the enduring enthusiasm around what we\u2019ve built.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Disruptive Media",
  "desc": "Launching this globally would have required lots of funding in order to get production and logistics to work well internationally. Getting deals with big international companies was hard and plugging into their production pipeline turned out to be technically impossible, since they did not have any APIs. It\u2019s hard to tell whether this would have worked, since we were running out of money and had to leave it there. Potential investors were not too crazy about investing in a declining market either. The numbers did not fully work out.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Calxeda",
  "desc": "In [Calxeda\u2019s] case, we moved faster than our customers could move. We moved with tech that wasn\u2019t really ready for them \u2013 ie, with 32-bit when they wanted 64-bit. We moved when the operating-system environment was still being fleshed out \u2013 [Ubuntu Linux maker] Canonical is all right, but where is Red Hat? We were too early.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Turntable.fm",
  "desc": "Ultimately, I didn\u2019t heed the lessons of so many failed music startups. It\u2019s an incredibly expensive venture to pursue and a hard industry to work with. We spent more than a quarter of our cash on lawyers, royalties and services related to supporting music. It\u2019s restrictive. We had to shut down our growth because we couldn\u2019t launch internationally. It\u2019s a long road. It took years to get label deals in place and it also took months of engineering time to properly support them (time which could have been spent on product).",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Tutorspree",
  "desc": "Although we achieved a lot with Tutorspree, we failed to create a scalable business\u2026. Tutorspree didn\u2019t scale because we were single channel dependent and that channel shifted on us radically and suddenly. SEO was baked into our model from the start, and it became increasingly important to the business as we grew and evolved. In our early days, and during Y Combinator, we didn\u2019t have money to spend on acquisition. SEO was free so we focused on it and got good at it.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Nirvanix",
  "desc": "The cloud is great. Outsourcing is great. Unreliable services aren\u2019t. The bottom line is that no one cares about your data more than you do \u2013 there is no replacement for a robust due diligence process and robust thought about avoiding reliance on any one vendor.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "PostRocket",
  "desc": "When we first started PostRocket, we wanted to not only help marketers like you succeed in Facebook marketing, but do so with an exceptional product and service to back it. We were never able to reach the high bar we set for ourselves. Our product had many issues and even through the down-time and bugs, you stuck with us. We thank you for that.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "VoterTide",
  "desc": "We didn\u2019t spend enough time talking with customers and were rolling out features that I thought were great, but we didn\u2019t gather enough input from clients. We didn\u2019t realize it until it was too late. It\u2019s easy to get tricked into thinking your thing is cool. You have to pay attention to your customers and adapt to their needs.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "SkyRocket",
  "desc": "In addition to a lag in sales, new product challenges arose and pretty soon I began to question myself. With each pitch following that period of doubt\u2014whether it was to a girl at a party or an interested investor\u2014my enthusiasm and perceived confidence dwindled.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "GameLayers",
  "desc": "Ultimately I believe PMOG lacked too much core game compulsion to drive enthusiastic mass adoption. The concept of \u201cleave a trail of playful web annotations\u201d was too abstruse for the bulk of folks to take up. Looking back I believe we needed to clear the decks, swallow our pride, and make something that was easier to have fun with, within the first few moments of interaction.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Serendip",
  "desc": "The high costs of processing millions of posts every day, and serving relevant and engaging playlists to our users across our web service and mobile app (yes, no Android, I know\u2026) are really bigger than we can handle, a very challenging position for a small startup to be in.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Unifyo",
  "desc": "We aimed to build a great, highly automated user experience first, focusing on the end-users and SMEs with plans to grow into companies from the bottom up (like Skype, Yammer, Dropbox). We couldn\u2019t empathize with big corporations and heard only scary things about the long sales cycles. However, every company we have kept track of in the \u2018relationship management\u2019 space has either shut down or moved at least into the B2B space",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Mass-customized Jeans",
  "desc": "We weren\u2019t going to draw from the business until we had recouped our (parents\u2019) initial investment. That meant continuing to operate 9-5 while earning an income at night, which was fine for the months leading up to launch, but totally unsustainable once orders started coming in.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Condom Key Chains",
  "desc": "There was no doubt about it: I had discovered The Next Big Thing. Like Edison and the lightbulb, like Gates and the pc operating system, I would launch a revolution that would transform society while bringing me wealth and fame. I was about to become the first person in America to sell condom key chains.",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 },
 {
  "name": "Link Management System",
  "desc": "So the most important thing is to sell \u2013 a fact lots of startups forget. And we did too. After much thought it comes down to these six reasons why we failed (beside the obvious one that the VC market imploded when we needed money and noone was able to get any funding):",
  "funding": "",
  "peak": ""
 }
]