5 Startup failures in H1 of 2023

Although startup flops are everything but uncommon, it’s always hard to see an exciting and innovative product go down with the ship and its captain. That being said, there’s hardly anything in this world that can stop the entrepreneurial spirit.

Go Global World encourages it through its startup pitch and networking events where we aim to connect founders with the top investors from around the globe. Our platform is all about matchmaking like-minded visionaries and simplifying the funding process.

The current unstable venture market climate has brought many inspiring startups to its knees. But a loss for a founder is just a lesson learned. They continue their quest fueled by the motivation to create something brilliant and make an impact.

The first half of 2023 brings us hope for a brighter future . Read on to learn from the noisiest company setbacks in H1 of 2023. We’ve rounded up these startup upsets in no particular order:

IRL’s demise proves the importance of a live user base

The unicorn for event discovery and planning, IRL, closed its doors in June admitting that 95% of its users were fake accounts.

The app allowed users to form social circles where they could share their outgoing plans, take part in events, and visit them in groups, offering personalized event suggestions and discussions among friends.

How it failed

Prior to its closure, the company and its directors boasted about their success, claiming they had 20 million monthly active users with a 63% retention. An eye-catching metric for investors who immediately took the bait.

Some IRL employees began doubting these claims, so the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had to step in and investigate whether the founders were misleading their investors and violating securities laws. These events led to the company's eventual shutdown.

Funding history

The closure was a huge upset after IRL’s impressive 5-round funding streak garnering a total of $197 million raised. Most of this capital, however, was captured during the company’s latest Series C investment round on June 15, 2021, pulling in $170 million at a staggering $1.1 billion valuation.

Founder’s Journey

IRL’s creator, Abraham Shafi is a UC Berkeley alumnus, a serial founder, and an Investor.

Before IRL’s uprising and downfall, he had a brief internship at Google while studying science, society, and technology at the university. After that, he went on to start his first company, getTalent.

The getTalent startup was born out of personal experience and aimed to eradicate bias in the hiring process. At the core lay an optimized resume sorting. The product was adopted by major brands, such as Walmart and Viacom. The company was sold to Dice in 2013.

He then created IRL also driven by personal issues: depression and an addiction to social media. They are what motivated Abe to make a social platform that’s healthier, less addictive and brings people together in real life.

These days, Abe mostly plays as an investor, dabbling in various projects aimed at personal development:

• Magic Mind: a performance drink containing a combination of 13 active ingredients: vitamins, adaptogens, and nootropics scientifically designed to improve a person’s mood, increase focus, and relieve stress.
• Maven: a new platform for group-based courses from the creators of Udemy, altMBA, and Socratic, offering live, online, community-driven courses aimed to advance a person’s career.
• Copilot: a personal finance platform with a user-centric experience that helps people understand the essentials of their financial life, digging deeper than conventional apps.
• Reforge: a career development platform for top-tier professionals in tech aimed to explore product development and growth opportunities.

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