The world of startups is an ever-evolving ecosystem with tens of thousands of success and failure stories.
And with all these changes in place, startup people have to learn to keep themselves updated regularly, if not constantly.
And so, we’ve gathered a good collection of statistics to shed light on the benchmarks and changes in the startup sphere of business and especially SaaS.
We have general startup statistics, how startups fared during the pandemic, stats by industry, and more. We put together not only success numbers but also failure numbers to make sure we take into account all sides of startup stats. Considering that an exit strategy is a vital part of a startup’s success, the startup exit statistics should help you understand what challenges you may face regarding your strategy.
Without further ado, here are 38+ startup statistics and trends:
General Startup Statistics
1- China and the U.S. account for most of the highest-value startups.
2- 1 in 3 small businesses begin with less than $5,000.
3- More than 69% of U.S. entrepreneurs start their businesses at home.
4- 804,398 new businesses were started in the U.S. alone in 2020.
5- It is generally believed companies with several co-founders are more successful; however, in reality, the vast majority of exit startups had just one founder.
Here is a map that shows startups per country:
Here is the list of top unicorns by valuation:
Here is the historical progress of unicorns:
Startups during the COVID-19 Pandemic
6- Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 40% of all respondents say that their exit timeline did not change. Only 8% say the timeline has been accelerated.
7- 50% of companies plan to keep giving the opportunity to work from home when pandemic restrictions are eased. Among IPO-bound companies, the proportion is even higher with 62%.
Startups providing solutions and expertise for monitoring and tracking during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2021:
Here are some questions about the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on startups’ exit strategy (startup exit statistics):
Q1- What type of exit strategy do you think your company is most likely to pursue?
8- Pre–COVID-19, 53% of startups believed that they were within two years of an exit.
9- 44% anticipate an exit in a one-to-two-year time frame.
10- Only 10% say they didn’t know what the exit timeline of the startup was.
11- 52% say COVID-19 delayed their exit timeline.
12- 8% say they actually moved up their exit date in response to the pandemic.
Q2- Before the COVID-19 pandemic developed, approximately how far out was your company from an exit strategy horizon?
Addressing the question “What specifically prompted companies to put off their exit?”:
13- 70% suggest flat or declining sales as at least one of the reasons.
14- 43% suggest that they had to close or partially close their company.
15- 32% suggest an expectation that the market will not yield the targeted IPO price as another reason.
Q3- How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your planned startup exit strategy?
Startup Statistics by Industry
16- Robotics tech and advanced manufacturing startups experience growth rates of 189.4%.
17- The robotics industry has grown by 1,400% in the last five years.
18- Startups in construction, accounting, online retail, and landscaping are most likely to get started with under $5,000 in startup costs.
19- Consumer and industrial products (41%) – and life sciences and health care (36%) are more likely to pursue merger opportunities.
20- In comparison, financial services (46%) – and technology, media, and telecommunications (37%) are more likely to pursue acquisition by another company, with an IPO as the second most common exit strategy in these two industries.
21- With a need of more than $100,000 to get started, the most expensive small businesses and startups to launch are restaurants, medical offices, and manufacturing companies.
22- Tech startup founders are, on average, 39 years old.
Startup Success and Failure Statistics
Startup success stories have inspired so many people over the years and encouraged them to start their own startups.
There is, of course, a lot to learn from successful startups and their people. However, startup failure statistics and stories suggest that it is not so easy to be successful. In this regard, as an entrepreneur, you should not only focus on successful startups but should also look at startup failure statistics and stories.
Let’s look at these startup failure and success statistics to help you have a better understanding of startups.
23- Only 40% of startups are profitable, and other startups will either break even or continue to lose money.
24- Around 90% of startups fail.
25- 10% of these startups fail within the first year.
26- 42% of startups fail because they offer products or services that are not needed by the market.
27- 14% of startups fail due to not regarding customers’ needs.
28- 23% of startups suggest that team issues lead to failure.
29- Other significant reasons for startup failures, which correspond to around 10% of failures, are pricing/cost issues, user-unfriendly products, poor marketing, and product mistiming.
30- Founders who had a successful business previously have a 30% chance of success with their next venture.
Startup Funding Statistics
31- 25% of businesses were not able to receive the funding they required. As a result, they limited the growth of their business.
32- Until they top $100 million in funding, companies are most likely to pursue acquisition by other companies and are more likely to be at least three years away from an exit.
33- Only around 1% of startups evolve into unicorn startups, like Uber, Airbnb, Slack, Stripe, and Docker.
34- Large unicorn startups, such as the ones mentioned above, have taken a billion dollars or more in debt in order to become successful.
35- In the startup ecosystem, the average time between funding rounds from Seed to Series A is 22 months, Series A to B is 24 months, and Series B to Series C is 27 months.
36- 47% of Series A startups spend around $400k per month.
37- The average funding amount for a Series C round is $50 million.
38- 67% of Series A-funded startups in 2017 were already generating revenue before even being funded.
And so these would be the most crucial statistics for startups or anyone looking to start a startup. Now, if you are the latter, there is much to be discovered for you here on the blog!
Check out our guide to growing a SaaS startup from scratch here 👈
