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This free sheet contains all the information about the top 100 unicorns, including their valuation, HQ's location, founded year, name of founders, funding amount and number of employees.
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There are a lot of things to consider when building a new startup - where to get funding, how to validate your idea, and what features should the product have.
One of the challenges is finding a market that is willing to pay for your solution without even knowing what it is yet.
However, 90% of startups will fail and shut down.
In this article, you can find 31 failed Entertainment startups as well as analyses on why they closed down.
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Information about the industries, countries, and cities they generally invest in.
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Information about their valuation, HQ's location, founded year, name of founders, funding amount and number of employees.
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List of startup investors in the FinTech industry, along with their Twitter, LinkedIn, and email addresses.
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List of startup investors in the BioTech, Health, and Medicine industries, along with their Twitter, LinkedIn, and email addresses.
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List of 250 startup investors in the AI and Machine Learning industries, along with their Twitter, LinkedIn, and email addresses.
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Circa had the mission of ‘fixing’ what was wrong with journalism. They suffered a financial breakdown and were copied by giants in the news sector.
Details of the startup:
Founders:
Arsenio Santos, Ben Huh, Matt Galligan
Country:
United States
Industry:
Entertainment
Started in:
2011
Closed in:
2015
Nº of employees:
10-50
Funding Amount:
$1M-$10M
Specific cause of failure:
Lack of Funds
You can read more about their failure here.
Digg had the mission of "democratizing" the content and news that people saw. However, it missed lots of opportunities to become a thriving social network.
Details of the startup:
Founders:
Kevin Rose
Country:
United States
Industry:
Social Media
Started in:
2004
Closed in:
Active
Nº of employees:
50-100
Funding Amount:
$10M-$50M
Specific cause of failure:
Competition
You can read more about their failure here.
Dinner Lab offered a culinary experience with a group of strangers in an unusual place. They faced several problems, including the diner's timing.
Details of the startup:
Founders:
Brian Bordainick, Francisco Robert, Zach Kupperman
Country:
United States
Industry:
Food & Beverage
Started in:
2011
Closed in:
2016
Nº of employees:
10-50
Funding Amount:
$1M-$10M
Specific cause of failure:
Bad Business Model
You can read more about their failure here.
Flowtab was an app that solved the problem of long queues in bars. They tried several business models but never found a profitable one, so they shut down.
Details of the startup:
Founders:
Mike Townsend
Country:
United States
Industry:
Food & Beverage
Started in:
2011
Closed in:
2013
Nº of employees:
50-100
Funding Amount:
$0
Specific cause of failure:
Bad Business Model
You can read more about their failure here.
Flud was a social news reader platform. They were unable to raise additional funding for their operations and eventually ran out of cash.
Details of the startup:
Founders:
Bobby Ghoshal, Matthew Ausonio
Country:
United States
Industry:
Productivity
Started in:
2010
Closed in:
2013
Nº of employees:
10-50
Funding Amount:
$1M-$10M
Specific cause of failure:
Multiple Reasons
You can read more about their failure here.
Friendster was a social gaming site widely popular in Asia. It never put emphasis on the social news feed feature, leading to poor usage and registrations.
Details of the startup:
Founders:
Jonathan Abrams
Country:
Philippines
Industry:
Social Media
Started in:
2001
Closed in:
2015
Nº of employees:
10-50
Funding Amount:
$10M-$50M
Specific cause of failure:
Lack of PMF
You can read more about their failure here.
Gowalla was a location-based social platform that allowed users to share their location. It tried to do many things at once, and shut down after 5 years.
Details of the startup:
Founders:
Josh Williams, Scott Raymond
Country:
United States
Industry:
Social Media
Started in:
2007
Closed in:
2013
Nº of employees:
10-50
Funding Amount:
$10M-$50M
Specific cause of failure:
Competition
You can read more about their failure here.
An analysis on why did Quibi, a short-form video streaming platform, shut down despite raising $1.8 billion from investors and having an experienced team.
Details of the startup:
Founders:
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Country:
United States
Industry:
Entertainment
Started in:
2018
Closed in:
2020
Nº of employees:
250-500
Funding Amount:
> $50M
Specific cause of failure:
Multiple Reasons
You can read more about their failure here.
Sip was made by ProductHunt. It covered news in the tech industry in a bite-size format. Due to no market need and lack of focus, PH shut it down.
Details of the startup:
Founders:
Ryan Hoover, Nick Abouzeid, Chad Whitaker
Country:
United States
Industry:
Productivity
Started in:
2018
Closed in:
2019
Nº of employees:
1-10
Funding Amount:
$0
Specific cause of failure:
Multiple Reasons
You can read more about their failure here.
What happened to Vine? Why did Vine shut down? When? Does TikTok face the same risk? Here's our detailed analysis.
Details of the startup:
Founders:
Colin Kroll, Dom Hofmann, Rus Yusupov
Country:
United States
Industry:
Social Media
Started in:
2012
Closed in:
2017
Nº of employees:
50-100
Funding Amount:
No Data
Specific cause of failure:
Multiple Reasons
You can read more about their failure here.
Vreal was a virtual reality startup that enabled users to interact with content creators. They were ahead of their time in a market not fully developed.
Details of the startup:
Founders:
Todd Hooper
Country:
United States
Industry:
Entertainment
Started in:
2015
Closed in:
Active
Nº of employees:
10-50
Funding Amount:
$10M-$50M
Specific cause of failure:
Bad Timing
You can read more about their failure here.
101 Studios was a producer of video games that taught users things while they played. They went with a “business to professor” business model, but despite professors like the idea, they wouldn’t implement it in their classes. The startup could never reach product-market fit and shut down months later.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Matt “GundayMonday” Sever
Country:
United States
Industry:
Education
Started in:
Closed in:
Funding Amount:
$0
Specific cause of failure:
Bad Market Fit
You can read more about their failure here.
Kyril is the founder of DotaHaven, a gaming content site that’s currently passing away. The website had early success, raising $90k, growing from 0 to 500k page views/mo in 6 months and making $3.5/mo at its peak. However, in the last months, the business has struggled to make enough money to keep running; over-investment in a non-validated concept is one of the reasons for their failure.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Kyril Kotashev
Country:
Bulgaria
Industry:
Entertainment
Started in:
2018
Closed in:
2020
Funding Amount:
< $100K
Specific cause of failure:
Bad Market Fit
You can read more about their failure here.
Gameslog was a gaming site monetized with affiliate marketing. But the site never took off, as the market was already saturated.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Michael Hebenstreit
Country:
Germany
Industry:
Entertainment
Started in:
2013
Closed in:
2014
Funding Amount:
$0
Specific cause of failure:
Competition
You can read more about their failure here.
GawkBox was a platform where viewers of live streams could play mobile games to donate real money to streamers. Chris co-founded this as his first startup and he was able to successfully raise $4.4M in venture funding, which the startup invested in marketing until they achieved 500k users and more than $1M in revenue. However, multiple mistakes and a series of reasons led to their shut down.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Christopher Brownridge
Country:
United States
Industry:
Entertainment
Started in:
2016
Closed in:
2019
Funding Amount:
$1M-$5M
Specific cause of failure:
Lack of Funds
You can read more about their failure here.
Michael Hawthorne Jr. was the founder of Atlanta-based consulting agency Hawthorne Strategies LLC. The agency worked with NFL Players to develop their philanthropic foundations and awareness campaigns to address community issues that they cared about. Read on to know how overwhelm, overwork, and failing to scale led the potentially-profitable business to the ground.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Michael Hawthorne
Country:
United States
Industry:
Entertainment
Started in:
2013
Closed in:
2013
Funding Amount:
$0
Specific cause of failure:
Lack of Funds
You can read more about their failure here.
Tobi Ogunwande is a Nigerian filmmaker who tried to build the Netflix for African short films as a result of his frustration to find great African movies. He partnered with a technical co-founder and soon after launching, they were seeing an average of 1,000 views on their films. However, they soon realized the market niche was too small and there wasn’t a clear business model. Eventually, they run out of money and shut down.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Tobi Ogunwande
Country:
Nigeria
Industry:
Entertainment
Started in:
2015
Closed in:
2016
Funding Amount:
< $100K
Specific cause of failure:
Bad Business Model
You can read more about their failure here.
In 2011, Gabriel decided to build a Go Server that would launch new features every few weeks. He and his co-founder built and launched it in 2 months and in the following months, they raised $20,000 through a crowdfunding campaign. 1 year into running and they were shut down: product, engineering, and morale were the problems to blame.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Gabriel Benmergui
Country:
Argentina
Industry:
Entertainment
Started in:
2011
Closed in:
2012
Funding Amount:
< $100K
Specific cause of failure:
Poor Product
You can read more about their failure here.
In 2012, Ivo started a 3-year journey building a business that sold iPad racing wheels, which would suck up $50,000 in personal and investor funds. The hardware accelerator he went through wasn't able to help turn his business into a success, neither was the Kickstarter campaign successful. Learning from the experience, today Ivo runs $1M+ crowdfunding campaigns. Read below to learn about his journey.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Ivaylo Kalburdzhiev
Country:
Bulgaria
Industry:
Software & Hardware
Started in:
2012
Closed in:
2015
Funding Amount:
< $100K
Specific cause of failure:
No Market Need
You can read more about their failure here.
Jordi Miró has been building products and companies since 2007. After a successful CTO experience in Wuaki TV, he founded Lernin Games, an EdTech startup focused on toddlers. He raised €1.5M and built a team of 10, but Lernin ran out of cash and the project couldn’t succeed.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Jordi Miró
Country:
Spain
Industry:
Education
Started in:
2017
Closed in:
2019
Funding Amount:
$1M-$5M
Specific cause of failure:
Bad Business Model
You can read more about their failure here.
Lockpick Entertainment was a small game studio, that created Dreamlords, a famous MMORTS game. They did it well, making thousands per month. But they began to increase the scope, and after 6 years, they went out of business due to bankruptcy.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Jesper Bylund
Country:
Sweden
Industry:
Software & Hardware
Started in:
2006
Closed in:
2012
Funding Amount:
$0
Specific cause of failure:
Competition
You can read more about their failure here.
Marc co-founded *openmargin, a social e-reader app that turned books into small communities. Being too early in the market, having huge competitors like Amazon, and not shipping fast enough were three of the reasons for the startup’s failure.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Marc Köhlbrugge
Country:
Netherlands
Industry:
Productivity
Started in:
2009
Closed in:
2014
Funding Amount:
$100K-$500K
Specific cause of failure:
Lack of Focus
You can read more about their failure here.
Sharkius was a social games company. It grew too fast, too quickly. It reached $80k/month revenue within months and wasted it. Learn from their mistakes!
Details of the startup:
Founder:
David Kramaley
Country:
United Kingdom
Industry:
Entertainment
Started in:
2007
Closed in:
2012
Funding Amount:
$0
Specific cause of failure:
Bad Marketing
You can read more about their failure here.
Will created Sport Draftr, a Daily Fantasy Sports site in the UK, offering leagues in the English Premier League, and UEFA Champions League. The product was loved, looked great, and it worked well, but due to a lack of knowledge in the gambling industry and changes in legislation, they were forced to close the company.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Will Laurenson
Country:
United Kingdom
Industry:
Entertainment
Started in:
2015
Closed in:
2017
Funding Amount:
$0
Specific cause of failure:
Legal Challenges
You can read more about their failure here.
Tandem was a live streaming platform for fitness. Cause of failure? Live fitness isn't that engaging. Influencers were reluctant to adopt a new platform.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Nick Raushenbush
Country:
United States
Industry:
Health
Started in:
2016
Closed in:
2016
Funding Amount:
$0
Specific cause of failure:
Bad Market Fit
You can read more about their failure here.
The Nerd Cave was a new kind of retail model, a truly safe space for gamers of all kinds to go and enjoy their passion and hobby. They were doing it great, earning $16,000 AUD/month. But when they moved to a new location, they saw a big loss of income, which provoked the closure of their doors.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
David Desi
Country:
Australia
Industry:
Entertainment
Started in:
2013
Closed in:
2017
Funding Amount:
< $100K
Specific cause of failure:
Lack of Funds
You can read more about their failure here.
Toygaroo was the Netflix of toys. Funded by a great group of people based in Los Angeles, the company appeared on Shark Tank asking $100k for a 10% stake. They ended up raising $250K in 2 funding rounds, but after some months, they had to shut down the company. Inventory and logistical costs were too high, so capital rapidly disappeared.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Phil Smy
Country:
United States
Industry:
e-Commerce
Started in:
2010
Closed in:
2012
Funding Amount:
$100K-$500K
Specific cause of failure:
Bad Business Model
You can read more about their failure here.
Tzelon and Ron are two developers who came with an idea: creating a tool that allowed Twitch streamers analyze their streams and creating short videos with the best moments. But they failed to build an audience around the product and couldn’t get any customers to keep going with the project.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Tzelon Machluf
Country:
Israel
Industry:
Entertainment
Started in:
2015
Closed in:
2015
Funding Amount:
$0
Specific cause of failure:
Bad Marketing
You can read more about their failure here.
WURA was an on-demand video platform for African and Nollywood movies. Mike hired a few developers to build it and spent $35,000 on Facebook marketing. The business grew fast and he was making $3,861 per month. However, YouTube competition and cash flow killed the startup.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Michael Ojo
Country:
United States
Industry:
Entertainment
Started in:
2013
Closed in:
2018
Funding Amount:
$0
Specific cause of failure:
Lack of Funds
You can read more about their failure here.
Jon was one of the Yottio’s co-founders, a mobile-first tool that enabled video participation on broadcast television. The startup went through all experiences, including making $200k in revenue, spending $150k for operations, a co-founder leaving the business and a $20m acquisition offer. However, Yottio eventually ran out of cash and shut down.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Jon Lawrence
Country:
United States
Industry:
Software & Hardware
Started in:
2013
Closed in:
2015
Funding Amount:
$0
Specific cause of failure:
Lack of Funds
You can read more about their failure here.
Zapstream was a social live streaming platform, which competed with Meerkat and Periscope. The startup raised $1m from angels and grew from 0 to 100k users. However, a combination of dwindling engagement, mismanagement of money, and the inability to fundraise further, led to their shut down.
Details of the startup:
Founder:
Devan Sood
Country:
United States
Industry:
Social Media
Started in:
2015
Closed in:
2016
Funding Amount:
$1M-$5M
Specific cause of failure:
Mismanagement of Funds
You can read more about their failure here.
