We\u2019ve put this list together for several years now. It\u2019s not a fun task, but it seems worthwhile to commemorate the startups that have closed up shop over the past 12 months. (Some of them were acquired by larger companies before shutting down, but all of them began their life as startups, and it still felt worthwhile to mark the end of their stories.) It also offers an opportunity to examine those issues from a bit of distance to see if there are any broader takeaways for the community at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year\u2019s list is among the most diverse we\u2019ve done, ranging from standard smaller-name closures to big blockbuster crashes like Quibi <\/strong><\/a> and Essential <\/strong><\/a>. For some, the pandemic was the final nail in the coffin, but in many cases, cracks in business models were already starting to surface well before COVID-19 ground the global economy to a screeching halt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Atrium (2017-2020)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Total Raised:<\/strong> $75 million<\/p>\n\n\n\n Atrium, a 100-person legal tech startup founded by Justin Kan, shut down in March after failing to find an efficient way to replace the arduous systems of law firms. The startup even returned some of its $75.5 million in funding to its investors, including Andreessen Horowitz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The shutdown comes after the platform had pivoted just months earlier, laying off in-house lawyers and turning into a clearer SaaS play. Ultimately, Atrium\u2019s failure shows how difficult and unprofitable it could be to disrupt a traditional and complicated system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The closure came just three years after it launched with the goal to build software for startups to navigate fundraising, hiring, acquisition deals and collaboration with their legal team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Essential (2017-2020)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Total Raised:<\/strong> $330 million Image Credits:<\/strong> Darrell Etherington<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big plans, big names and a boatload of money should have been enough to buy Essential a lengthy runway. Sure, Essential was entering a mature and oversaturated market, but the Playground-backed startup was doing so with $330 million in funding, a team of top industry executives and some genuinely innovative ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I spoke to the company at launch, an executive outlined a 10-year plan to become a major player in both the mobile and smart home categories. Ultimately, the company was able to eke out just under three years of life after coming out of stealth. And while it did give the world a promising handset, its connected home hub never arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Timing, broader marketing issues and troubling allegations of sexual misconduct were all contributing factors that stopped Essential\u2019s big plans dead in their tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n HubHaus (2016-2020)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Total Raised:<\/strong> $11.4 million Image Credits:<\/strong> HubHaus<\/p>\n\n\n\n HubHaus, founded by Shruti Merchant, was a long-term housing rental platform rooted in the belief that adult dormitories would take off. The startup targeted working professionals in cities, and raised only around $11 million in known venture capital. When it came to raising a Series B, Merchant says the company struggled to close and lost investor interest due to WeWork\u2019s failed IPO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After then pivoting to a self-funded company, HubHaus was just finding footing when the coronavirus pandemic arrived in the United States, drastically hurting the rental market (as shown by Airbnb\u2019s public struggles, as well). The housing company eventually decided to close down in September, leaving landlords, members and vendors in limbo and bringing on a fresh sweep of critique and controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Affordable housing continues to be an issue in the Bay Area, and HubHaus\u2019s departure from the scene underscores this truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hipmunk (2010-2020)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Total Raised:<\/strong> $55 million Image Credits:<\/strong> Hipmunk<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hipmunk, <\/strong><\/a> founded by Adam J. Goldstein and Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman, was one of the first travel aggregation platforms on the market. The company put together information on flights, hotels and car rental all into one place so consumers could compare and contrast prices with ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The focus was enough for the platform to get acquired by Concur, but now after four years, the travel startup shut down. Notably, the travel startup\u2019s closure wasn\u2019t necessarily tied to the coronavirus pandemic. The site officially went dark on January 23, months before lockdowns came to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n IfOnly (2012-2020)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Total Raised:<\/strong> $51.4 million Photo: Thomas Barwick\/Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n IfOnly had created a marketplaces of exclusive events \u2014 such as \u201cgoat yoga\u201d \u2014 a business that faced obvious challenges during the pandemic. The startup was actually acquired by one of its investors, Mastercard, late last year, but the acquisition wasn\u2019t announced until IfOnly revealed over the summer that it was shutting down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mastercard also said IfOnly\u2019s team and technology are still part of its Priceless experience marketplace: \u201cThe IfOnly platform will continue to help advance our Priceless strategy and our combined team will be even better positioned and equipped to deliver exclusive experiences for cardholders globally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mixer\/Beam Interactive (2014-2020)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Total Raised:<\/strong> $520,000 Image Credits:<\/strong> Microsoft<\/p>\n\n\n\n Microsoft shut down its Twitch competitor Mixer this year, handing off its partnerships to Facebook Gaming. The service had its roots in the software giant\u2019s acquisition of Beam Interactive shortly after the startup won TechCrunch\u2019s Startup Battlefield<\/a> in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before giving up, Microsoft made some big investments in Mixer\u2019s success, most notably signing streaming superstars Ninja and Shroud to exclusive deals. (They became free agents after the shutdown.) However, Microsoft\u2019s gaming chief Phil Spencer said the company suffered from starting out \u201cpretty far behind\u201d the biggest players in the streaming market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Outline (2016-2020)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Total Raised:<\/strong> $10.2 million Image Credits:<\/strong> The Outline<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite a busy year of innovation and venture for news media platforms, The Outline, which branded itself as \u201cthe next generation version of the New Yorker\u201d was shut down. The media site was started by Josh Topolsky and had an explicit focus on serving millennials with a digital-first news media brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The shutdown was part of a broader layoffs at Bustle Digital Group, which acquired the publication in 2019. Pre-acquisition, The Outline had already scaled back its editorial staff and refocused on freelance articles. (Input \u2014 a tech site that Topolsky founded for BDG \u2014 continues to publish.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Periscope (2015-2020)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Periscope went out with more of a whimper than a bang. The startup was acquired by Twitter before it had even launched a product. With Meerkat bursting on the scene that year at SXSW, Twitter went on the offensive, buying the startup to build out its own live video offering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Periscope\u2019s run was decent as far as these things go, and its technology will live on as part of Twitter\u2019s video offerings, even after the app is officially discontinued next March. But in the end, Periscope was a shell of its former self. In fact, this is a rare instance where the pandemic may have actually delayed its shutdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company notes, \u201cWe probably would have made this decision sooner if it weren\u2019t for all of the projects we reprioritized due to the events of 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n PicoBrew (2010-2020)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Total Raised: $15.1 million<\/strong> Image Credits:<\/strong> PicoBrew<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company made beer-brewing machines that used coffee pod-style PicoPaks, then expanded into other categories like coffee and tea, but never quite attracted enough customers to make the business viable. It sold its assets earlier this year to PB Funding Group \u2014 a group of lenders recruited by then-CEO Bill Mitchell in 2018 to keep it afloat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s possible that PicoBrew will live on in some form, as PB Funding Group says it\u2019s seeking buyers for the company\u2019s patents and other intellectual property, and that it will keep the website running in the short term so that the machines don\u2019t stop working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quibi (2018-2020)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Total Raised:<\/strong> $1.75 billion Quibi CEO Meg Whitman speaks about the short-form video streaming service for mobile Quibi during a keynote address January 8, 2020 at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by ROBYN BECK\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n More so than any tech company in recent memory (with the possible exception of Theranos), Quibi\u2019s existence feels like a fever dream. $1.75 billion in funding later and what do we have to show for it? \u201cFierce Queens,\u201d a nature documentary about female animals. The HGTV-style program, \u201cMurder House Flip.\u201d And, of course, \u201cThe Shape of Pasta.\u201d A show about pasta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Early reports of the service\u2019s demise seemed premature \u2014 if only because there was seemingly no way a company could burn through that much capital that quickly. By late-October, however, it was over. \u201cAll that is left now is to offer a profound apology for disappointing you and, ultimately, for letting you down,\u201d founders Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman wrote in an open letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes startup failures are bad timing. Sometimes it\u2019s just plain bad luck. With Quibi, the diagnoses of what went wrong can be summed up in one word: everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rubica (2016-2020)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Total Raised:<\/strong> $15 million Image Credits:<\/strong> Rubica<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rubica spun out of security company Concentric Advisors with the aim of offering tools that were more advanced than antivirus software, while still remaining accessible to individuals and small businesses. CEO and co-founder Frances Dewing said that when customers cut back on spending during the pandemic, the company tried to shift its focus to larger enterprise, but it failed to convince investors there was a business there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were all really surprised given how relevant and needed this is right now,\u201d she said. \u201cInvestors didn\u2019t agree with that or see it in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n ScaleFactor (2014-2020)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Total Raised:<\/strong> $104 million Businessman\u2019s hands with calculator and cost at the office and Financial data analyzing counting on wood desk. Image Credits:<\/strong> Sarinya Pinngam\/EyeEm \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n ScaleFactor was a startup claiming to offer artificial intelligence tools that could replace accountants for small businesses; it blamed the pandemic for cutting its revenue in half and forcing the company to shut down. However, former employees and customers told Forbes a different story<\/a> \u2014 that ScaleFactor actually relied on human accountants (including an outsourced team in the Philippines) to do the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While it\u2019s hardly unprecedented for a startup to fudge the truth about their level of automation versus human labor, this reportedly resulted in error-filled accounting for ScaleFactor clients. (Responding to a fact-checking email, former CEO Kurt Rathmann said the email was \u201cfilled with numerous factual inaccuracies and misrepresentation\u201d and declined to comment further.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Starsky Robotics (2015-2020)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Total Raised:<\/strong> $20 million Self-driving trucks startup Starksy Robotics began with this first, and problematic truck. Image Credits:<\/strong> Starsky Robotics<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn 2019, our truck became the first fully-unmanned truck to drive on a live highway,\u201d Starsky Robotics co-founder and CEO Stefan Seltz-Axmacher wrote in a Medium post in March. \u201cAnd in 2020, we\u2019re shutting down.\u201d After five years and $20 million in funding, the autonomous trucking company shut its doors that month. It wasn\u2019t for lack of ambition or demand \u2014 it seems safe to assume there\u2019s still a bright future for self-driving trucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, however, Starsky won\u2019t be along for that ride \u2014 a fact Seltz-Axmacher blames largely on timing. A crowded market is certainly at play, as well, with countless companies currently pushing to bring autonomous technology to the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/atrium-scale-pitch.png\")
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