How Many Startups Are There?
Published: February 10, 2022
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If small companies with headquarters in basements and garages are the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word “startup,” think again! Even though many people think of startups in this way, the reality is that startups have changed and evolved.
And their numbers grew exponentially over the years.
How Many Startups Are There?
There are currently about 70,762 startups in the US, making it the country with the most startups in the world. India ranks second with 12,556, and the UK is third with 6,155.
(Source: First Site Guide)
More Stats on Startups
Let’s dive deeper into startup stats and find out which industries currently dominate the startup world, how many billion-dollar startups there are, where they’re typically located, and what their success rates are.
In 2017, 7.1% of the world’s startups were fintech startups.
(Source: Statista)
Fintech startups were closely followed by life sciences and healthcare startups (6.8%), artificial intelligence startups (5%), and gaming startups (4.7%).
In 2020, there were about 1.35 million technology startups in the world.
(Source: CB Insights / Get2Growth)
Some of the most successful tech startups in the US include Epic Games, Magic Leap, One Trust, etc.
About 305 million startups are created annually.
(Source: Get2Growth)
Such a high number doesn’t come as a surprise, as there are about 472 million entrepreneurs in the world.
According to 2019 statistics, about 90% of newly created startups fail.
(Source: Investopedia / Yahoo! Finance)
Startup statistics also show that about 21.5% do so very early — in the first year. Quibi, MoviePass, Jawbone, Scalefactor, and Chef’d are only some of the examples of failed startups.
There are over 800 unicorn startups in the world.
(Source: Visual Capitalist)
Unicorn startups are large successful startups with a value of over $1 billion. While some successful unicorn startups are practically anonymous, others are world-renowned (e.g., Elon Musk’s SpaceX or Sweeney’s Epic Games).
Infamous Theranos was once a startup.
(Source: Yahoo! Finance)
This company, which promised a commercial portable blood analyzer that was never developed, cost several high-profile investors (e.g., Walmart founders, Rupert Murdoch, Betsy DeVos, etc.) over $600 million.
There are over 40,000 startups in Silicon Valley.
(Source: Startup Genome)
Though the number of startups in Silicon Valley was affected by the pandemic and incredibly high costs, a large number of startups, venture capital firms, and tech companies remain.
AI and e-commerce startups are currently trending.
(Source: Cloudways)
Other categories of trending startups include EdTech startups, fintech startups, food and beverages startups, blockchain startups, healthcare startups, fashion startups, IoT startups, etc.
Wrapping Up
Since revolutionary startups seem to be running the world, it appears that a good idea can make you a lot of money. With COVID pushing technology to a new level, this may be a great moment to turn your brilliant idea into a startup.
Just make sure to have clear business strategies in place to keep the company afloat and ahead of competitors.
Sources
ABOUT AUTHOR
Ema is an ESL teacher (who is highly curious about technology in education) and a content writer. She enjoys writing on all sorts of subjects and she loves a good challenge. When she’s not working, you can find her reading a mystery thriller or watching “Shutter Island” for the umpteenth time.
