Lonely dead pool club: Shutdowns fall 99.8%, startups face a zombie threat

While founders have now become more prudent, there are firms that continue to burn cash to survive and may soon end up in the dead pool once their runway ends

Homegrown micro-blogging platform Koo last week became the only fourth startup in 2024 to enter the dead pool club, which has seen a massive 99.8 per cent decline this year so far.

Investors say the recent wave of startup shutdowns — exacerbated by the so-called funding winter — was a “necessary cleanup”, with founders now focusing on improving operational metrics. However, the startup world may not be completely out of the woods yet, as ‘zombie’ startups have emerged as a new threat, they said.

Koo shut down operations last week after acquisition talks failed. Other notable startups that have