110 must-know startup statistics for 2025
We've put together a list of 100+ startup statistics that anyone interested in learning more about startup culture and current trends should read.
Index
- Startup statistics and trends
- Startup success rates
- Startup failure rates
- Startup funding and investor facts
- Startup costs statistics
- A look at startup teams
- Statistics for fintech startups
- Statistics for construction startups
- Statistics for tech startups
- Statistics for real estate startups
- Future of startups 2025 and beyond
- The experts' opinions
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Get a QuoteWhat comes to mind when you hear the word startup?
If it’s a grungy basement in the heart of Silicon Valley, you’re not alone. Many people think of startups as a team of five early-20s guys with one common thread — a high threshold for chaos. But even a five-year-old company can still be considered a startup.
A startup can graduate to a larger company by being acquired, opening more than one office, generating revenues greater than $20 million, or having more than 80 employees, Forbes explains.
These employees work for entrepreneurs who believe their ideas could skyrocket by creating a startup. Well, that’s the dream, right? The risky reality for startups is that they’re vulnerable to more extreme risks than the average business.
So, what is new with startups? To track the latest trends, we’ve compiled small business and startup statistics for 2025. We will cover startup success, failure, and funding, as well as some industry-specific data.
Startup statistics and trends
Time between
The average time between startup funding rounds is around two or three years, with series A and B funding taking less time than series C. Carta
Funding amount
The average funding amount for a Series C round in 2024 is $50 million. Fundz
Series A
The median series A funding for a U.S. startup is $18 million. Fundz
New businesses
There were 5.5 million businesses started in 2023, compared to only 5 million in 2022. These numbers were not published for 2024. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce).
U.S. companies
With about 33.2 million in 2024, small businesses made up 99.9% of all U.S. companies. U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Entrepreneurs' degrees
Around 44% of all entrepreneurs have a bachelor's degree, and 27% have a master's degree. Guidant Financial
Startups profitable
Only 2 in 5 startups are profitable, and other startups will either break even (1 in 3) or continue to lose money (1 in 3). Upsilon
Unicorn startups
There are currently 1,542 unicorn startups in the world that are collectively worth more than $5 trillion. Crunchbase
Unicorn cities
There are more unicorn startups in San Francisco than any other city on Earth at 256. New York comes in second with 119, followed by Beijing with 51. Startup Blink
Founder salary
In 2024, the average startup founders salary was $142,000, up from $121,000 in 2023. Inc.
Women entrepreneurs
Around 43% of all entrepreneurs around the world are women. Sustainability Magazine
Women founders
While 13.2% of founders are women, they also accounted for 24% of VC exits in 2024. Female Founders Fund
U.S. unicorns
The U.S. has 714 unicorn startups, which accounts for more than 50% of all unicorns in the world. Pitchbook
Startup success rates
Shark Tank
Nearly 94% of startups that receive investment on the TV show Shark Tank succeed, with only a 6% failure rate. Failory
Series B funding
Around 65% of all startups receive series B funding. SPD Load
Lack of funding
Securing funding is one of the most important drivers of success in startups, as nearly 30% of all startups that fail do so due to lack of funding. Upsilon
Gaming success
The gaming industry has the highest success rate for startups at around 50%. SPD Load
Software & data
Software and data is the strongest and most prominent startup industry, accounting for 32% of all startups. Startup Blink
Older founders
A study shows that a 60-year-old is 3x as likely to build a successful startup as a 30 year old. Entrepreneur
Startup failure rates
Startups fail
About 90% of all startups eventually fail. Failory
First year
10% of startups fail within the first year. Failory
Crypto startups
Crypto startups have an extremely high failure rate of 95%. Coin Telegraph
Businesses fail
65% of all businesses fail within 10 years, and 23% don't make it past the first year. Lending Tree
Product-market fit
The most common reason startups fail is due to a lack of product-market fit at 34%. Failory
Marketing problems
The second most common reason why startups fail is due to marketing problems at 29%. Failory
Quibi's failure
The most expensive startup failure of all time was Quibi, a video subscription service that received $1.75 billion in funding before failing less than 8 months after its launch. Statista
Cash flow
In 2023, 82% of businesses that went under did so because of cash flow problems. Fundera
VC-backed
75% of venture capital-backed startups fail. Harvard
Fintech companies
Despite the rapid growth of the industry, three out of four Fintech companies will eventually fail. Reuters
Startup funding and investor facts
Venture proposals
Individual venture capital firms receive more than 1,000 proposals a year and are mostly interested in businesses that require an investment of at least $250,000. Money Crashers
Self-funded
78% of startups are self-funded, with founders using their personal savings and income to get started. Score
VC funding
Venture capital funding rose to $209 billion in the US in 2024, from $171 billion in 2023. KPMG
Unicorns' valuation
Far fewer than 1% of startups turn into unicorns. In fact, companies have a .00006% of earning a $1 billion valuation. Vention
Investment capital
While it may seem like a common occurrence for startups to receive investments, in reality, only .05% obtain investment capital. Forbes
Gender gap
There is a major gender gap when it comes to VC funding. All female founder groups receive less than 3% of the total share of VC funding, and mixed-gender founding groups only get 10%. Harvard
Funding required
One in four businesses, surveyed by the NSBA, were not able to receive the funding they required, which led to limiting the growth of their business. Fundera
Q1 funding
In the first quarter of 2024, VC funding saw $36.6 billion invested over nearly 4,000 deals. Pitchbook
Lower VC
Over the past few years, VC funding has fallen, hitting the lowest level since 2019 in 2023. This is due to rising geopolitical tensions and a volatile stock market that has caused investors to be cautious. Investment News
Popular funding
Some of the most popular funding methods for startups in 2024 are crowdfunding and borrowing from friends or family. Chamber of Commerce
Startup costs statistics
Hiring team
One of the most expensive startup costs is hiring a team, which can account for around 18.8% of a startup's total costs on average. Shopify
Product costs
Startups may spend around 32% of their total budget on product costs such as manufacturing, inventory, patents, paying suppliers, and sourcing raw materials. Shopify
Office space
Renting a physical office space costs new startups between $300 and $1,230 per employee per month. Forbes
Equipment costs
Equipment costs for startups can range anywhere from $11,000 to $125,000. Forbes
Employee salary
The average startup employee makes between $35 and $45 per hour or an average of $87,849 per year. ZipRecruiter
Expensive companies
The most expensive companies to start are those that require specialized equipment, such as restaurants, medical centers, and manufacturing. Up Metrics
Lowest-cost
Online services such as content creation, translation, online courses, and event planning are some of the lowest-cost businesses to start. Business News Daily
Accounting services
Businesses should set aside around 5% of their income to pay for accounting and bookkeeping services. Milestone
A look at startup teams
Small businesses
Over 99% of U.S. businesses are considered small (fewer than 500 employees). SBA
Hiring employee
It may take up to 6 months for a startup to hire a new employee, from the beginning of the hiring process to the moment the new employee walks into the building. Reputable Recruiting
In-office growth
Startups with in-office employees grew 3.5x faster than startups that primarily work from home. Inc.
Two founders
Two founders increase the odds of a startup's success with 30% more investment, three times the customer growth rate, and a higher likelihood the startup will not scale too fast. Small Business Trends
CEO salary
The average startup CEO salary is around $148,000 per year, though this can be as high as $300,000. Deel
Management issues
82% of startups fail due to leadership or management issues. Get Marlee
Employee tenure
Most startup employees stay with the company for 1 to 2 years, with only 9% staying for more than 4 years. 30 40 Wealth
Stock equity
Startups typically reserve 13% to 20% of their stock for employee equity options. Carta
No CFO
Around 80% of startups operate without a CFO in the early stages. WSJ
Statistics for fintech startups
Fintech market
The global fintech market was valued at $340.1 billion in 2024. The market is projected to be worth $394.88 billion in 2025 and reach $1.1 trillion by 2032. Fortune Business Insights
VC funding
VC funding dropped from $35 billion in 2023 to $28 billion in 2024—a decline of 20%. S&P Global
Crypto funding
Crypto VC funding averaged $9.9 billion in 2023 and 2024, and is projected to double to $18 billion by the end of 2025. CNBC via Pitchbook
Largest fintech
The largest fintech startup in the world is Stripe, which is worth $70 billion. CB Insights
Fintech unicorns
At the end of 2024, there were a total of 381 fintech startups valued at over $1 billion, up 18 from May 2024. Fintech Labs
Fintech startups
In 2024, there were nearly 30,000 fintech startups in the world, up from only 12,211 in 2019. Statista
Data breaches
With data breaches and cyber security being some of the biggest worries for fintech startups, the average cost of a data breach in 2025 was $4.88 million. IBM
Largest Europe
Revolut is the largest fintech startup company in Europe, worth more than $33 billion. Forbes
U.S. & China
The U.S. and China dominate in terms of major fintech companies. In fact, 7 of the 10 largest fintech companies in the world are based in these two countries. CFTE
Statistics for construction startups
Construction failure
The construction industry had a high failure rate of 73.4% over 10 years or 83% over a 20-year period. Busy Busy
Boring Company
The Boring Company, a tunnel-building company founded by Elon Musk, is one of the most valuable construction unicorns in the world, with an estimated worth of $5.75 billion. Failory
Top countries
Unsurprisingly, the three largest populations in the world — the U.S., China, and India — are the behemoths in the construction industry. By 2037, these three countries are expected to account for 51% of all construction work in the world! Oxford Economics
Contech investment
Despite a drop in VC investment in the construction industry in 2023, the first quarter of 2024 has seen $672 million in investment in construction tech, an increase of 20% from the previous period. Construction Dive
Worker shortage
Major investments in clean energy could create tens of thousands of jobs, but there is currently a worker shortage in the construction industry of more than 500,000. Deloitte
Industry rise
The global construction industry is aimed to rise to $13.9 trillion by 2037, a rise of $4.2 trillion from 2022. Oxford Economics
AI adoption
While AI technology can provide major benefits for the construction industry, only 1% of construction companies have adopted AI. NC Commerce
Commercial construction
Commercial construction makes up the largest part of the non-residential sector at 21% and has grown steadily since 2020. Tradesmen International
Statistics for tech startups
Tech founder
Despite the idea that tech startup founders are in their early 20s, the average age for the founder of a tech startup is 42. Entrepreneur
Tech industry
The tech industry accounts for 6.5% of the total U.S. Gross Domestic Product at a whopping $1.9 trillion. Forbes
AI companies
Between 2017 and 2024, the number of AI tech companies doubled to nearly 80,000. Tracxn
Tech employees
64% of the employees in the tech industry are male, and 68.5% of tech employees are white. Both of these figures are higher than the total in private industries. Forbes
Software engineers
Tech startups in the U.S. pay software engineers an average of $102,000 per year. Founders Network
East Coast
The West Coast Silicon Valley tech industry has dominated for decades, but the East Coast is beating out the West in growth, with hubs like DC, NYC, and Boston on the rise. IT Brew
Laid off
In 2024, there were 1,115 layoffs at tech companies with 238,461 people impacted. Trueup.io
OpenAI's revenue
Open AI, the company responsible for bringing us ChatGPT, now enjoys a recurring revenue of $13 billion per year, with expectations to exceed $20 billion by the end of 2025. CNBC
Cybersecurity funding
VC funding in cybersecurity increased by more than $1 billion to $2.7 billion in the first quarter of 2024. Crunchbase
IoT devices
There were nearly 16 million IoT devices worldwide in 2023, which is expected to rise to 22.5 million in 2026. Statista
Statistics for real estate startups
Proptech industry
The proptech industry is set to grow from $40.19 billion in 2025 to $88.37 billion by 2032. Fortune Business Insights
Big data
Real estate startups that invest in big data analytics are seeing a 25% increase in efficiency. World Metrics
Office vacancy
Commercial real estate has struggled in past years due to the rise in remote work. In 2024, office building vacancy rates reached a new high of 13.7%. NAR
Billion-dollar firms
In 2023, 392 U.S. real estate firms sold more than $1 billion in real estate. This is a slight decline from 435 firms in 2022. Housing Wire
Average deal
The average proptech deal in the United States shrunk from $48.9 million in 2021 to $16.8 million in 2023. Statista
Existing homes
Nearly 4.1 million existing homes were sold in the U.S. in 2023, down from more than 5 million existing home sales in 2022. NAR
Real estate agents
In 2022, there were 674,000 American real estate agents with an average salary of $94,515. Data USA
VC investment
In 2023, proptech companies raised $11.38 billion in venture capital investment, a significant 43% decrease from 2022, which saw $19.8 billion in proptech VC investment. Creti
Proptech investors
About 31% of commercial real estate investors plan on investing in proptech companies, and 26% plan on partnering with proptech companies. Statista
Future of startups 2025 and beyond
SVB funds
After the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023, hordes of tech founders pulled out of the bank, but many are now moving their funds back to SVB. Business Insider
AI investment
Investment in AI is expected to continue to rise, with an expected total market value of $200 billion by 2025. Edge Delta
New unicorns
The number of new unicorns boomed in 2022 with 330, but this has slowly declined in the last couple of years and is expected to continue on that route. In 2024, only 60 unicorns were created in the US. TechCrunch
EV charging
Startups are expected to dive into EV charging and infrastructure. As more and more electric vehicles hit the road, there is an increased need for charging stations and infrastructure for the vehicles. Blink Charging
Biotech growth
Medical and biotech startups are gaining traction, and the industry is expected to grow at a compounded rate of around 14% until at least 2030. Grand View Research
AI support
Artificial intelligence will continue to support startups by assisting in efficiency and nurturing rapid growth. Forbes
Lower VC
U.S. venture capital investment exploded to $190.4 billion in 2024, a 30% increase from 2023. Techloy via DealRoom
U.S. startup
The United States is expected to continue to be the country with the highest startup output, but several other nations, such as China, the UK, and India, also have rapidly growing startup climates. Startup Blink
Subscription model
The subscription service model continues to be one of the most profitable and fastest-growing business models and is projected to reach $1.5 trillion in value by 2025. Forbes
The experts' opinions
Learn entrepreneurship
According to Forbes, the best way to learn more about entrepreneurship is to start a company. Forbes
Business plans
Businesses that write out detailed business plans grow 30% faster than those that do not. Profile Tree
Top concern
Inflation and economic uncertainty is a top concern of business owners in 2024. Truist
Hiring secret
"The secret to successful hiring is this: Look for the people who want to change the world." Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce
Owner confidence
In 2024, 56% of American small business owners were confident in their own business. Truist
Team values
It is important to establish core values and to emphasize role flexibility when choosing a team for your startup. Forbes
Social media
86% of small business owners agree that social media should be at the forefront of business marketing strategy. Zippo
Money vision
"Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you." Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos
Reputation warning
"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently." Warren Buffet, Founder of Berkshire Hathaway