Famous Failed Startups
Famous Failed Startups is a structured business dataset with 18 entries. Its fields include Startup, Founded, Died. The source values are preserved as a structured reference table.
Every row is shown below and is also available as CSV, JSON, or Excel.
Dataset details
- Table scope
- All 18 rows
- Fields
- 6 columns
- Source
- Community curated
- Data updated
- Apr 9, 2026
Included fields: Startup, Founded, Died, Peak Valuation (USD M), Total Raised (USD M), and 1 more.
The table contains every record in this dataset; the same records are available in each download format.
Preview observations
- Founded span
- 1996 to 2018
- Across 18 preview rows
- Died range
- 2,000 to 2,023
- Across 18 preview rows
Useful for
- Comparing Startup, Founded, and Died across business entries
- Building reference tables, charts, or analyses from 18 downloadable records
Startup↕ | Founded↕ | Died↕ | Peak Valuation (USD M)↕ | Total Raised (USD M)↕ | What Went Wrong↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quibi | 2018 | 2,020 | 1,750 | 1,750 | Jeffrey Katzenberg's short-form video app, launched mid-pandemic, no one wanted phone-only content, dead in 6 months |
Theranos | 2003 | 2,018 | 9,000 | 945 | Holmes faked blood testing tech, WSJ and Carreyrou exposed fraud, criminal charges |
Pets.com | 1998 | 2,000 | 290 | 110 | Sold pet supplies at a loss, Super Bowl ad sock puppet icon, died 9 months after IPO |
Juicero | 2013 | 2,017 | 270 | 120 | 400 dollar wifi juicer, Bloomberg showed hands squeezed the bag just as well, became Silicon Valley punchline |
Webvan | 1996 | 2,001 | 1,200 | 800 | Overexpanded grocery delivery with billion-dollar warehouse buildout, burned cash, 2000s too early |
Jawbone | 1999 | 2,017 | 3,000 | 900 | Fitness tracker pioneer crushed by Fitbit and Apple Watch, buggy products, slow pivot |
MoviePass | 2011 | 2,020 | 500 | 68 | 9.95 per month for unlimited movies was unsustainable, burned 40 million in one month |
Color Labs | 2010 | 2,012 | 167 | 41 | Raised 41 million pre-launch for a photo app no one used, became symbol of 2011 VC excess |
Solyndra | 2005 | 2,011 | 2,000 | 1,600 | Cylindrical solar panels, got 535 million DOE loan, undercut by Chinese flat panels, political scandal |
Fab.com | 2010 | 2,016 | 1,000 | 336 | Design flash-sales site pivoted multiple times, burned through cash, sold for 15 million |
Better Place | 2007 | 2,013 | 2,250 | 850 | Battery swap EV infrastructure too ambitious, only one car model supported, bankruptcy |
Homejoy | 2010 | 2,015 | 100 | 40 | Uber-for-cleaning, contractor lawsuits, customers churned after first cleaning, Google hired team |
Kozmo.com | 1998 | 2,001 | 300 | 280 | One-hour delivery of anything with no minimum order, unit economics never worked |
Sidecar | 2011 | 2,015 | 200 | 39 | Pioneer of ridesharing before Uber scaled, couldn't compete on fundraising, acquired by GM |
Beepi | 2013 | 2,017 | 560 | 150 | Used car marketplace, burned cash on marketing, expensive inspections, co-founders spent on luxury |
WeWork (original IPO) | 2010 | 2,019 | 47,000 | 12,800 | S-1 exposed losses and Neumann self-dealing, pulled IPO, SoftBank rescue at 8 billion, later SPAC |
Zenefits | 2013 | 2,022 | 4,500 | 583 | HR software unicorn, CEO cheated California broker license tests, never recovered reputation |
Zume Pizza | 2015 | 2,023 | 2,250 | 445 | Robot pizza cooking in trucks, pivoted to packaging, SoftBank bet, eventually liquidated |
Free to explore · No signup needed
Frequently asked questions
How is Famous Failed Startups organized?
The table starts in the source data's default order. You can sort and filter the loaded rows by the displayed fields.
How much data is available on this page?
This dataset contains 18 entries, and every row is available in the table and in the downloadable files.
Can I download the complete dataset?
Yes. CSV, JSON, and Excel downloads contain all 18 rows. Before republishing the data, review the source and any usage terms listed on this page; dtbse does not replace the original source's licensing terms.
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