Dead Unicorns: Startups That Failed to Launch
Here at M2 we love celebrating promising new companies, but some of them stay just promises until they inevitably run out of investor capital and runway. A lot of tech companies are currently feeling the rubber meeting the road and discovering that they don’t have a viable product on their hands. Here are a few of the big names carking it:
2023 was dubbed a tough year for International startups. American counterparts have been feeling a massive crunch as 3,200 tech startups got put in their graves alongside $27 billion in funding. Here in New Zealand though it was reported mid 2023 that we had managed to dodge that particular bullet. Investments were up 8.2% against a 32%-35% fall globally.
WeWork
WeWork is the Uber of office spaces. They always liked emphasising the app side of things, pretending they were a tech company. Unfortunately they were actually a property company. What happens in a post Covid environment where remote workers aren’t interested in hiring office spaces? Well WeWork which was valued at $47 Billion four years ago found out the hard way and is now winding down underperforming spaces as it’s reportedly getting its ducks in a row for bankruptcy.
Olive AI
Olive AI is another post-covid victim. It exploded over 2020-21 as the need for automated healthcare became the next big thing. At it’s height it was valued at $4 billion and had it’s enterprise AI software in 900 hospitals. Unfortunately for them the need for their services has shrivelled and they have been carving up the business, liquidating assets where they can as they close their doors for good.
Veev
The “tech enabled” prefabricated construction startup Veev hit Unicorn status last year and had just completed it’s first pre-fab family home. It was valued at over a billion dollars but it turns out being valued and having liquidity aren’t the same thing. “Veev was in the process of raising capital, which was canceled at the last minute. In light of the current market situation in Israel and globally, it was not possible to secure additional funding,” the company wrote in a statement. 100 of their staff members work in Israel and many of it’s investors also hail from that region. They were unwilling to take part in this current funding round, so it was time to close it’s doors.
Convoy Inc
Convoy Inc is a trucking startup with big name investors behind it like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management. With pockets that deep you’d think that you have a sure thing on your hands. In 2022 it was valued at $3.8 billion. Unfortunately, as is the case with so many of the others on this list, a dip in demand for shipping post-covid has put pressure on all the trucking and warehousing companies leading Convoy to start making cuts where it could. Despite laying off about 1000 staff they still had to send one last email out saying “Today is your last day at the company.”
