INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Welcome back to Startups Weekly, a weekend newsletter that dives into the week’s noteworthy startups and venture capital news
Before I jump into today’s topic, let’s catch up a bit
Last week, I wrote about the defining moments of VC in 2019
Before that, I noted some thoughts on U.S
VC activity in Europe.Remember, you can send me tips, suggestions and feedback to kate.clark@techcrunch.com or on Twitter @KateClarkTweets
If you’re new, you can subscribe to Startups Weekly here.2019’s lost startupsStartups perish for many reasons but there’s one
constant: this is an incredibly difficult business
Launching a successful company isn’t just a matter of drive and finding the right people (though both, clearly, are important)
Doing well in this business requires the stars to align perfectly on a billion different things.A cursory look at this year’s batch of
companies doesn’t find any story quite as spectacular as last year’s big Theranos flameout, which gave us a best-selling book,
documentary, podcast series and upcoming Adam McKay/Jennifer Lawrence film
Some, like MoviePass, however, may have come close.And for every Theranos, there are dozens of stories of hardworking founders with
promising products that simply couldn’t make it to the finish line
There’s also room for debate about what is and isn’t a startup
For our purposes, we’re focusing here on independent startups, not digital initiatives from larger companies — though in at least one
case, the startup was acquired by a larger company before shutting down.So without further ado, here are some of the biggest and most
fascinating startups that closed up shop in 2019. We have a holiday promotion going on right now with annual Extra Crunch membership
You can get an annual membership for only $79 (normally $150/year)
This offer is available exclusively through this link, and the offer expires at the end of the month.
