160 Startup Statistics for 2024 | Trends, Success Rates & More

Start-ups are often seen as a bright future for new entrepreneurs. People invest significant effort and money into establishing a start-up because they believe that with the right strategies and opportunities, the business will take off like a rocket into the sky.

However, the statistics might prove otherwise. Is this meant to discourage new business owners? Absolutely not.

We simply want you to be fully prepared for what lies ahead. Therefore, here are 160 essential startup statistics to know before you dive into the startup game. Let’s get started.

Startup Statistics and Trends Overview

Before moving on to the compilation of statistics in different aspects, why don’t we start with the general landscape of how most startups are doing in 2024 first? Let’s see the number of startups, and interesting growth trends in this industry.

1. The statistics show that only 1% of startups are able to scale into unicorns like Uber, Airbnb, and Slack. (CBInsights, 2018)
2. Moreover, according to the study in 2023, around 20 tech companies launched in the United States every year will generate $100 million in revenues. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
3. As we know, the United States currently holds the position of the most significant technology market in the world, with its value at $1.6 trillion. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
4. In 2022, there were approximately 30.2 million small businesses that were operating in the United States. (SBA, n.d.)
5. In the same year, there were also a thousand active unicorns in the United States, collectively worth $1.1 trillion. (Bloomberg, 2022)
6. Over 50 billion-dollar tech startups were established during the time of recession, and just the ones founded during the 2008 recession are collectively worth nearly $150 billion. (Startup Genome, 2020)
7. However, as of early 2024, there are currently over 1,200 billion-dollar unicorns across the world. (CB Insights, 2024)
8. Back in 2021, Agtech & New Food was the fastest-growing startup industry, as they had a 128% increase in funding during 2021-2022. (Startup Genome, 2021).
9. In 2024, only 2% of startups all over the world belong to the Agtech & New Food industry. (ExplodingTopics, 2024)
10. In 2022, Healthcare was the strongest industry in the United States, making more than $12 billion in revenue. (Fierce Healthcare, 2022)
11. In 2023, due to the ongoing climate crisis, it’s no surprise that several climate tech startups have been significantly growing over the last 18 months. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
12. AI research and development has been popular for quite a while, and in 2022 alone, the big five tech companies spent $223 billion on these. (The Economist, 2023)
13. Surveys also show that more than 20% of Americans have used an AI program, at least once, in the past six months. (Emarketer, 2023)
14. Another industry that is worth keeping an eye on is electric automobiles as the number of electric cars was predicted to sell more than 14 million units in 2023, but the network and infrastructure to support these cars are still insufficient. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
15. Unexpectedly, in the second quarter of 2023, the funding for metaverse companies fell to just $300 million. This is assumed to be due to the fact that investors prefer to fund generative AI projects more. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)

Startup Success and Failure Rates Statistics

Now we have seen a brief picture of the general startup trends, the next thing you might be wondering now is what are the startup’s success and failure rates? Let’s check them out.

1. Over the long run, the failure rate for new startups is around 90%. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
2. Currently, only 40% of startups can generate profit, and the rest will either break even or continue to lose money almost at the same ratio. (Small Business Trends, 2024).
3. Even though fintech is seen as one of the fastest-growing industries, around 75% of all fintech startups crash within 20 years. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
4. The industry that has the highest failure rate, when it comes to startups, is of course the technology industry. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
5. In 2023, more than 80% of businesses that fail are caused by cash flow problems. (Fundera, n.d.)
6. Even startups with venture backing have a failure rate of approximately 30%. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
7. Around 10% of new startups don’t even survive during their first year. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
8. 42% of small businesses fail due to misreading market demand, and this is the number one reason found in most cases. (CBInsights, 2021)
9. 34% of small businesses that fail lack the proper product-market fit. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
10. 22% of small businesses that fail stem from the lack of a good marketing strategy. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
11. 18% of small businesses fail due to team problems and other human resource-related problems. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
12. 16% of small businesses fail due to cash flow problems and other financial issues. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
13. 14% of small businesses fail because they don’t actually listen to the customers’ needs. (Fundera, n.d.)
14. Around 6% of small businesses fail due to technology-related problems, such as poor cybersecurity and outdated solutions. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
15. Only 2% of startups fail because of the suboptimal operations. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
16. Additionally, only 2% of startups fail because of legal issues, such as licensing, and failing to formulate a partnership agreement that protects the interests of each co-founder. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
17. The startups tend to fail because of the competition within the market after they have been active for three to five years. (Failory, 2024)
18. If the founder(s) of that particular startup is running a startup for the first time, the success rate is 18%. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
19. If the founder(s) have failed beforehand, they have a slightly higher success rate of startups, which is at 20%. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
20. But, if the founder(s) have established a successful startup before, they have the highest success rate at around 30% when starting a new venture. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)

Startup Investment and Funding Statistics

Let’s turn to another interesting aspect: investment and funding. Questions like, which industry the investors do like, what the capital investment trends are, and what the general trends in each funding round are. Who knows, learning these startup stats might allow you to have the upper hand in this game.

1. In 2021, the early-stage funding totaled $210 billion across 8,000 startup companies. (Crunchbase, 2022)
2. In 2022, the total venture capital funding reached the highest level in the past 10 years of $200 billion. (KPMG, 2022)
3. The average venture capital firm receives more than 1,000 proposals per year. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
4. The three most important factors that will affect the amount of funding your business earns are the time of year you pitch, the meticulousness of your data, and the value of your pitch. (Forbes, 2019)
5. The study illustrates that venture capital firms are usually interested in businesses that require at least $250,000 worth of investment. (Money Crashers, 2022)
6. Here is the average time between each funding round: from Seed to Series A is 18 months, from Series A to B is 10-18 months, and from Series B to C is 27 months. (Carta, 2023)
7. The average funding amount in the Series C round is $68 million. (Fundz, n.d.)
8. Approximately 1 in 4 new businesses don’t receive all of the funding required to launch, and this restricts their business growth in the long run. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
9. However, 3 in 4 venture-backed startups never return money to their investors. (Failory, 2024)
10. On average, credit card debt, business loans, and lines of credit amount to 75% of new business financing. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
11. When it comes to Kickstarter projects, less than 1% of them raise more than $1 million (Kickstarter)
12. McKinsey research has shown the striking gap between the funding received by the average startup led by white males and minority people. The former receives more than $210 million in total funding; while the latter receives only $91.1 million. (McKinsey & Company, 2023)
13. Pitchbook research also has shown that startups led by females receive merely 2.1% of the total invested capital. (Forbes, 2023)
14. On top of that, even though startups led by Latinos collectively valued around $2.6 trillion, they receive less than 1% of the total invested capital. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
15. Believe it or not, 1 in 3 small businesses began their journey with less than $5,000 worth of funding. (Small Business Trends, 2022)

Startup Cost Statistics

The cost of running a startup can be challenging. Before you fall into a never-ending loop of finding cash flow resources, it would be beneficial to check out some of the average costs. This can absolutely give you a guideline to optimize your costs! 

1. The average cost required to launch a startup is around $3,000; the range is usually between $2,000 to $5,000. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
2. In 2023, the most common financing method for startups was funding from friends and family, also known as “love money”. (Chamber of Commerce, 2024)
3. Around 47% of Series A startups spend $400,000 or more monthly. (Fundz, n.d.)
4. Many unicorn startups with venture capital backing require over $1 billion worth of debt in order to be successful. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
5. More than 50% of small businesses in the United States began their journey with less than $25,000 worth of funding. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
6. The highest cost in running a startup is usually payroll, as the average cost is $300,500 for five employees in the United States. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
7. In 2022, many turned away from the high cost of payroll which led to the median salary for self-employed individuals being $84,305. (Zippia, n.d.)
8. However, another source states that one of the biggest challenges to running startups is the cost of health insurance. (NSBA)
9. When it comes to the cost of equipment in a startup, it can be as high as $125,000, depending on the industry, products, and services. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
10. But, with the same logic, the average equipment cost can also be as low as $10,000. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
11. The differences in a business’s location can significantly affect the monthly cost, for instance, New York City is one of the most expensive locations, costing an average of $68 per square foot per month. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
12. If a startup is in the following industries: online retail, accounting, landscaping, and construction, it usually requires a $5,000 worth of starting cost. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
13. The most expensive industries are as follows: healthcare, restaurants, and manufacturing, as they require more than $100,000 to launch. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
14. The statistics show that startup founders tend to overestimate the company’s intellectual property by up to 255% during the early stage of funding rounds. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
15.  Back in 2011, startup owners had to spend around 40% of their working time on tasks that do not actually generate income such as hiring, human resources-related tasks, and payroll. (Entrepreneur, 2011)

Startups Demographic Statistics

Statistics can also provide you with valuable insights into the demographic trends in the startup industry. Let’s see whether this industry is inclusive and diverse enough or not.

1. When it comes to the number one country for startups or the highest ranked, that country is the United States. (StartupBlink, 2024)
2. Almost half of the unicorn startups around the world are headquartered in the United States. (Hurun, 2023)
3. Among all the US cities, San Francisco is the highest-ranked city to run startups. (StartupBlink, 2024)
4. Approximately 51.4% of business entrepreneurs have at least a bachelor’s degree. (Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, 2009)
5. In the United States, the university that has graduated more startup founders than others is Stanford. (Crunchbase, 2021)
6. The average age of startup founders is around 42 years old (HBR, 2018)
7. In 2023, there was a study that showed that a 60-year-old is three times more likely to run a successful startup, compared to a 30-year-old. (Entrepreneur, 2023)
8. Additionally, a 40-year-old is approximately two times more likely to run a successful startup, compared to a 25-year-old. (Kellogg Insights, n.d.)
9. However, startups with members aged 25 or younger as part of the founding team outperform every other age demographic. (FirstRound, n.d.)
10. The gender ratio between female and male entrepreneurs in this industry is 41.5% to 58.5%. (Zippia, n.d.)
11. Additionally, startups with a female founder or co-founder perform 63% better for their venture capital investors. (FirstRound, n.d.)
12. On the other hand, 30% of startups with female founder(s) only have enough funding for 4-6 months. (500 Startups, 2020)
13. The best business sector for startups with female founder(s) is health, medicine, and wellness. (500 Startups, 2020)
14. In India, only 9% of startup founders are female. (Statista, 2015)
15. Startups with two founders have a higher chance of success in their business, with 30% more investment, tripled customer growth rate, and a tendency that the startup will not scale too fast. (Small Business Trends, 2024)

Industry-Specific Startup Statistics

One thing we need to agree upon is that there are many different fields of startups. Hence, there are plenty of different things you need to know when it comes to each field’s growth trends, funding activity, innovation, and so on.

Here, we have selected startup statistics from 8 industries you should learn about first, so let’s check them out!

FinTech Startups Statistics

1. Investments made by venture capital firms in fintech startups have significantly increased from $1.8 billion in 2011 to $30.8 billion in 2018. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
2. In 2021, the amount of venture capital investments for fintech startups surged even higher to $121.6 billion. (Dealroom, n.d.)
3. In 2022, the global fintech industry was valued at $310 billion. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
4. Currently, the industry receives around $50 billion worth of investment each year. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
5. Compared to other industries, fintech has more global unicorns than others, with over 170 of the world’s unicorns being fintech startups. (Hurun, 2023)
6. However, even for fintech startups with venture capital backed, the failure rate is still as high as 75%. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
7. Currently, the United States is home to over 8,775 fintech startups. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
8. To this day, the Ant Group remains the largest fintech company globally, valued at $131 billion. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
9. Approximately 4 in 5 US financial institutions are partners with fintech service providers. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
10. Research has shown that successful fintech startups usually focus on data-driven iteration and continuous user testing instead of placing importance on using new technology only. (McKinsey Panorama Report, 2018)

You might also be interested in exploring more of: FinTech Statistics

EdTech Startups Statistics

1. The EdTech startup market was valued at around $340 billion in 2024. (Research and Markets, 2023)
2. The future prospects for the edtech market seem to be promising as experts estimated that the edtech market value could reach $605 billion by the year 2027. (Research and Markets, 2023)
3. Furthermore, it is expected to grow to $696.04 billion by 2028, with an annualized growth rate of 15.2%. (Research and Markets, 2023) 
4. The adaptive learning market size itself is already pretty large as it is predicted to reach $9.11 billion by 2028. (Emergen Research, n.d.)
5. Investment data on startups from the United States shows that the investments in EdTech startups reached $2.8 billion in 2023. (Reach Capital, 2024)
6. One of the world’s leading EdTech unicorns, Byju, is valued at $21 billion. (HolonIQ, n.d.)
7. In its last funding round, Byju raised around $800 million from investors. (HolonIQ, n.d.)

Logistic Startups Statistics

1. When it comes to logistic startups, the total funding raised in 2023 is more than $4.38 billion. (Growth List, 2024)
2. So far, the total funding raised in 2024 is already more than $400 million. (Growth List, 2024)
3. Sustainable logistics startups have raised 14% of total venture funding in 2021, and 29% of total venture funding in 2022. (Pitchbook, n.d.)
4. The freight and logistics market size in the United States is expected to reach $1.62 trillion by 2029. (Mordor Intelligence)
5. The freight and logistics market size in Europe is also expected to reach $1.55 trillion by 2030. (Mordor Intelligence)
6. Cloud computing is considered the most impactful technology for digital transformation in the logistics industry. (SP Global, 2023)
7. In 2024, approximately 50% of supply chain organizations planned to invest in AI-powered applications and advanced analytics. (Gartner, 2021)
8. Today, 34% of shipping and logistics firms haven’t executed digital transformation yet, but are considering one. (SP Global, 2023)

Health Tech Startups Statistics

1. The global health tech market was valued at approximately $106 billion in 2019. (Gitnux, 2023)
2. In 2020, the market size of mere healthcare analytics reached $14 billion already. (Gitnux, 2023)
3. From 2015 to 2020, the equity funding in AI healthcare startups has increased by 835%. (Statista, 2022)
4. The total digital health funding in 2020 has gone over $14.1 billion, with around 440 deals made. (Gitnux, 2023)
5. By 2025, the health tech market valuation is predicted to reach $504.4 billion. (Gitnux, 2023)
6. By 2026, AI health applications are expected to save the healthcare economy in the United States around $150 billion annually. (Gitnux, 2023)
7. Among the total health tech unicorns worldwide, the United States is home to almost 80% of them. (Statista, 2024)
8. Today, around 66% of adults in the United States have used mobile health applications. (Gitnux, 2023)
9. On the other hand, 77% of healthcare providers also used digital health tools in 2020. (Gitnux, 2023)
10. The failure-to-success rate ratio for health-tech startups stands at 80% to 20%. (Flair, 2024)

E-commerce Startups Statistics

1. Back in 2022, e-commerce retail sales worldwide reached the point of $5.5 trillion. (Flair, 2024)
2. The venture capital funding in the e-commerce sector in 2022 was also impressive – totaling $37 billion, making up around 9% of the total investments in startups that year. (Flair, 2024)
3. The global e-commerce market is expected to total $6.3 trillion in 2024. (Forbes, 2024)
4. And by 2027, the e-commerce market is expected to rise to more than $7.9 trillion. (Forbes, 2024)
5. In 2024, e-commerce sales are predicted by experts to grow by around 8.8%. (Forbes, 2024)
6. The study shows that nowadays around 34% of shoppers shop online at least once a week. (Forbes, 2024)
7. In 2024, around 20% of retail purchases are expected to be made via online platforms. (Forbes, 2024)
8. Moreover, by 2027, the portion of retail purchases made via online platforms is expected to reach 23%. (Forbes, 2024)
9. However, there has been a significant decline (of more than 60%) in the new unicorns emerging in the manufacturing marketplace and e-commerce sector. (Flair, 2024)
10. Similar to the health tech industry, the failure-to-success rate ratio for e-commerce startups stands at 80% to 20%. (Flair, 2024)

Real Estate Startup Statistics

1. In 2019, real estate startups contributed approximately $1.9 billion to the United States economy. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
2. In 2022, property tech startups raised $19.8 billion from venture capital firms globally. (ConnectedRemag, 2023)
3. Approximately 31% of United States-based commercial investors are considering investing in property tech startups. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
4. While 31% are planning to invest in proptech companies, 26% of them are planning to partner with proptech companies. (Statista, 2024)
5. However, on average, venture-backed real estate companies in the United States are down 85% from their offering price. (Crunchbase, 2022)
6. The residential real estate startups that attract the most investments are the ones that utilize artificial intelligence in their offers. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
7. Of all real estate businesses, around 48% of them go out of business within 4 years. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)
8. Of all real estate startups, office-sharing startups are the ones that attract the most venture capital funds from investors. (ExplodingTopics, 2023)

B2B Software Startups Statistics

1. Back in 2020, 78% of small businesses already rely on cloud technologies, including Software as a Service (SaaS). (Gitnux, 2023)
2. In 2022, 78% of businesses also reported that their spending on SaaS will increase even more. (Gitnux, 2023)
3. Moreover, 38% of companies are running almost entirely on SaaS. (Gitnux, 2023)
4. Approximately 85% of small companies have already invested in SaaS offers. (Gitnux, 2023)
5. From 2020 to 2027, the global software-as-a-service market (SaaS market) is projected to grow at a 27% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). (Gitnux, 2023)
6. In 2020, Microsoft had over 17% share of the total B2B SaaS market. (Gitnux, 2023)
7. Here’s a key finding about running SaaS companies: a 5% increase in customer retention can result in a 25-95% higher company revenue. (Gitnux, 2023) 
8. Another thing you might need to know about running SaaS companies: 68% of these companies offer a free trial of their product. (Gitnux, 2023)

Leisure and Entertainment Startups Statistics

Video Streaming

1. In 2022, the total revenue of the video streaming app industry reached $82.3 billion. (Business of Apps, 2024)
2. Moreover, by 2026, the total revenue is predicted to significantly grow, reaching $115 billion. (Business of Apps, 2024)
3. Before 2023, Netflix ranked number one when it came to streaming app market share in the United States, but it has been losing market share every quarter since the first quarter of 2021. (Business of Apps, 2024)
4. From the first quarter of 2023 onwards, Amazon is holding a slightly higher amount of market share than Netflix. (Business of Apps, 2024)

Music Streaming

1. From 2020 to 2027, the global music streaming market is projected to grow at a 7.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). (Business Wire, 2021)
2. By 2027, the global music streaming market is estimated to reach $46.9 billion. (Business Wire, 2021)
3. In 2018, streaming music applications accounted for 46.9% of the total global revenue, the highest proportion of revenue for recorded music. (IFPI, 2019)
4. As we know, Spotify has had the highest share of music subscribers in many countries, but it has not yet achieved global domination since there are other less-known streaming sites that are popular in the countries that they originated in, like Deezer from France. (Counterpoint Research, 2020)

Gaming Services

1. When it comes to gaming content platforms, Twitch ranked number one by far, compared to YouTube Gaming and Facebook Gaming, with more than 5 billion users in the last quarter of 2023. (Business of Apps, 2024)

Startup Employment and Job Creation Statistics

Last but not least, many people doubt how startups will affect the employment landscape and drive employment growth, provide more job opportunities, foster entrepreneurship, and so on. Therefore, here are some statistics that might give you an idea.

1. In 2020, there were more than 41 million entrepreneurs all around the world. (Gitnux, 2023)
2. Interestingly, 69% of entrepreneurs in the United States began their business journey at home. (Gitnux, 2023)
3. The study shows that 66% of small business owners use their personal savings as the main funding when they are establishing a business. (Shopify, 2023)
4. Running a startup requires a lot of money and time. Startup employees, especially in the early stages, typically work long hours. The report has shown that most startup employees spend between 50-60 hours a week on the job. (Domain Wheel, 2024)
5. In 2022, there was a significant growth in new jobs, and it is mostly due to 3.7 million new jobs that are created through startups. (Statista, 2023)
6. In 2021, the tech startups hired around 771,000 people, and this is in the United States only. (Gitnux, 2023)
7. Currently, the startup employees in the United States earn $104,000 per year, on average. (Domain Wheel, 2024)
8. The number of people employed across Europe in tech startups has surged 43% in the last four years. (Gitnux, 2023)
9. Approximately 66% of small businesses have to outsource services to other small businesses. (FreshBooks, 2017)
10. The downside also exists as the report found that people in customer-centric jobs (such as hospitality) continue to face a sharp decline in employment from 2020. (Gitnux, 2023) 

Future of Startups Insights

With globalization and digital transformation coming their way, the road to running a successful startup isn’t a bed of roses, of course. While there are plenty of benefits (wider customer pool, more opportunities in the market), you will also have to constantly face fierce competition with companies all around the world. 

Therefore, It is even more essential to understand the impact these major changes are going to make in your industry, so you can find ways to come up with the right strategy. 

One thing you need to remember is that compared to traditional businesses, startups are usually more agile and fast-evolving anyway, and that’s the strength. Startups should look at these changes with positive mindsets, considering them as opportunities for growth, rather than fearing them.

Empowering Decisions

In 2024, we can’t deny that the term ‘startup’ has evolved significantly since its origins – evolving from humble beginnings to major unicorns that can contribute to the country’s economy and the future of society. While the percentage of startups that fail is high, you never know that for sure. With the right strategies and insights, you might thrive in this ever-evolving landscape.

For entrepreneurs, we know that you might have a lot on your plate, and we believe some assistance can come in handy. If you have never heard of Mandala AI before, it is an AI assistant that caters to businesses of all sizes – Mandala AI can help monitor, manage, and analyze all angles of your business! There is also a >> free trial << that you can check out!

Ultimately, before wrapping up, we want to make it clear that these statistics are not only for entrepreneurs. Whether you are an investor, policymaker, another stakeholder, or a consumer, it is valuable to learn about startups. After all, part of our future is already in the hands of these startup owners.