SaaS and startup launch statistics 2026

How many new businesses survive

• 79.7% of US private-sector establishments opened in 2014 were still operating a year later. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026)
• 69.3% of the 2014 cohort survived two years, and 50.8% survived five. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026)
• 34.9% of establishments opened in 2014 survived ten years. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026)
• Of establishments opened in 2019, 79.2% survived one year, 70.2% two years and 51.5% five years. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026)

Why startups fail

• 70% of 431 VC-backed startups that shut down since 2023 ran out of capital, usually the final cause rather than the root problem. (CB Insights, March 2026)
• 43% of failed startups had poor product-market fit. (CB Insights, March 2026)
• 29% cited bad timing or macro conditions, and 19% unsustainable unit economics. (CB Insights, March 2026)
• The median time from a startup's last raise to shutting down was 22 months. (CB Insights, March 2026)
• The failed startups had raised $17.5 billion combined, a median of $11 million each. (CB Insights, March 2026)
• Two-thirds of failing startups were shrinking headcount in their last 6 months, and nearly a third died with 10 or fewer employees. (CB Insights, March 2026)
• Nearly 50,000 VC-backed startups have not raised since the start of 2023. (CB Insights, March 2026)
• 72% of failed startups with full data saw their CB Insights Mosaic health score fall in the year before shutting down, by 15% on average. (CB Insights, March 2026)

Reaching revenue milestones

• Almost half of SaaS startups reach $1M ARR within 10 years of first monetising. (ChartMogul, October 2025)
• One in ten SaaS startups reaches $10M ARR within 10 years. (ChartMogul, October 2025)
• One in fifty SaaS startups reaches $25M ARR within 10 years. (ChartMogul, October 2025)
• 3.3% of SaaS startups reach $1M ARR in under a year, 13.4% in under three years and 25.1% within five. (ChartMogul, October 2025)
• The 2021 cohort had the lowest rate of reaching $1M ARR within three years, at 10.1%. (ChartMogul, October 2025)
• AI-native startups were 3x more likely to reach $1M ARR within 6 months. (ChartMogul, October 2025)
• Bay Area companies were 70% more likely to reach $1M ARR within three years than companies elsewhere. (ChartMogul, October 2025)
• The 2025 analysis covered 6,525 software companies. (ChartMogul, October 2025)
• The median SaaS company took about 2 years and 9 months from its first paying customer to reach $1M ARR; best-in-class took 9 months. (ChartMogul, August 2023)
• The median took a little more than 5 years to reach $10M ARR; best-in-class took 2 years 9 months. (ChartMogul, August 2023)
• AI-native startups were 8x more likely to reach $10M ARR within 12 months, though fewer than 1% did. (ChartMogul, October 2025)
• Startups launched in 2016 to 2019 reached $1M ARR within three years about 15% of the time, against 12% for later cohorts. (ChartMogul, October 2025)

Growth rates

• Median SaaS companies grew about 30% a year; the top quartile grew 60% to 70%. (ChartMogul, August 2023)
• Top-decile companies at $1M to $3M ARR grew 192% a year. (ChartMogul, August 2023)
• Median SaaS companies grew 2% to 2.5% a month; the top decile grew 10% to 17% a month early on. (ChartMogul, August 2023)
• Companies with net retention above 100% grew 54% in a year, against 12% for those at 60% to 80%. (ChartMogul, August 2023)
• Expansion's share of new ARR rose from 29.1% in 2020 to 36.3%, while new business fell from 61.4% to 52.9%. (ChartMogul, August 2023)
• Companies under $1M ARR saw a median 24% year-over-year decline in new business ARR. (ChartMogul, June 2025)
• Top performers under $1M ARR saw new business growth fall from 116% in Q1 2022 to 59% in Q1 2025. (ChartMogul, June 2025)
• Larger SaaS companies showed a median new business growth rate of 2%. (ChartMogul, June 2025)

Trials, sales and pricing

• B2C SaaS converted 16% of trials to paid within 7 days, against 2.5% for B2B. (ChartMogul, June 2025)
• Top-performing B2B companies reach 1,000 subscribers in 11 months; the median B2B company takes about 2 years. (ChartMogul, June 2025)
• The top decile of B2B companies reaches 1,000 subscribers in under 3 months. (ChartMogul, June 2025)
• Below a $25 average selling price, self-serve B2B companies grew new business ARR 20%; those that added sales too early grew 0%. (ChartMogul, June 2025)
• Nearly half of companies with an average selling price under $25 close deals within 7 days. (ChartMogul, June 2025)
• The go-to-market study covered 2,500 SaaS companies from Q1 2024 to Q1 2025. (ChartMogul, June 2025)

Retention and churn

• Median net revenue retention was 82% for B2B SaaS companies with at least $250K ARR; the upper quartile was 97%. (ChartMogul, December 2025)
• Median net revenue retention for B2C SaaS was only 49%. (ChartMogul, December 2025)
• AI-native companies had a median gross revenue retention of 40% and net retention of 48%. (ChartMogul, December 2025)
• AI-native products priced under $50 a month retained just 23% of revenue gross and 32% net. (ChartMogul, December 2025)
• AI-native products priced over $250 a month saw 70% gross and 85% net revenue retention. (ChartMogul, December 2025)
• Median net revenue retention is 10 to 20 percentage points higher for annual plans than monthly ones. (ChartMogul, December 2025)

Launch platforms and directories (our data)

From our Product Hunt statistics and launch directory statistics.

Source: AgentLaunch: Product Hunt leaderboards (Sep to Oct 2026) and directory catalog (September 2026).

• Product Hunt's #1 product of the day needed a median of 443 votes over 30 days, from 251 to 1,855.
• #10 of the day on Product Hunt needed a median of 110 votes.
• 459 launches were featured on Product Hunt over the 30 days we tracked.
• Top-five Product Hunt launches drew a median of 32 comments, against 8 for other featured launches.
• 84% of 352 startup directories have a free route to a listing, and 178 are both free and dofollow.
• The median startup directory gets about 7.6K visits a month.
• 16% of directory submit flows show a CAPTCHA and 25% need an account.