2025 will likely be another brutal year of failed startups, data suggests Mary Ann Azevedo

More startups shut down in 2024 than the year prior, according to multiple sources, and that’s not really a surprise considering the insane number of companies that were funded in the crazy days of 2020 and 2021.

It appears we’re not nearly done, and 2025 could be another brutal year of startups shutting down.
TechCrunch gathered data from several sources and found similar trends.

In 2024, 966 startups shut down, compared to 769 in 2023, according to Carta.
That’s a 25.6% increase.

One note on methodology: Those numbers are for U.S.-based companies that were Carta customers and left Carta due to bankruptcy or dissolution. There are likely other shutdowns that wouldn’t be accounted for through Carta, estimates Peter Walker, Carta’s head of insights.

“Yes, shutdowns increased from 2023 to 2024 in every stage. But there were more companies funded (with bigger rounds) in 2020 and 2021. So we would expect shutdowns to increase just by nature of VC naturally,” he said.

At the same time, Walker admitted that it’s “difficult” to estimate exactly how many more shutdowns there were, or will be.

“I bet we’re missing a good chunk,” he told TechCrunch. . .

TechCrunch

4 days ago