Hello and welcome. You are listening to Patrick Boyle on Finance, a podcast exploring ideas from quantitative finance, examining events occurring in markets right now and financial history to see what lessons can be taken away, including interviews with some of the most interesting people in the world of finance. To learn more about the podcast, visit onfinance.org.

Big startups are shutting down. According to Pitchbook, more than 3,000 private venture-backed

startups failed in the last year. Of the startups raising money, 19% were

funded at a lower valuation than in prior funding rounds. 38% of VCs disappeared from deal-making

last year and more than a quarter of a million workers at tech companies were laid off over the same period.

US corporate bankruptcy filings closed out 2023 with the most filing since 2010.

The year has been described as a mass extinction event for startups in the press.

Hyperloop 1, which was supposed to reinvent transportation, was shut down

after wasting $450 million. It's like a tube with an air hockey table. I swear, it's not

that hard. Bird, the electric scooter rental company, which was also supposed to reinvent public

transportation, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

It was the fastest startup to ever land a billion dollar valuation and at its peak was

worth two and a half billion dollars.

It was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in September

after failing to maintain a market cap of above $15 million for 30 consecutive days.

Who would have thought that renting scooters to drunk people for a dollar, who would then

throw them in a canal on their way home,

would be a money-losing business. Bird ran up more than $1.6 billion in net losses from

2018 before finally running out of money. Smile Direct Club, which was supposed to revolutionize

the oral care industry by selling 3D printed clear aligners direct to customer, was valued at $8.9 billion when it went public in 2019.

But the stock fell in value over time as the company proved to be unprofitable year after year.

The company shut down last month, $900 million in debt.

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