Remembering the startups we lost in 2022 | TechCrunch

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Abstraction: Notable startup failures and shutdowns across sectors in 2022

Key points:

Q3 2022 venture capital dropped 33% quarter-over-quarter and 53% year-over-year (Crunchbase), ending the era of $20M seed rounds and forcing many closures
FTX, once the third-largest crypto exchange valued at billions, filed for bankruptcy in November 2022; founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas and charged by the SEC with defrauding investors
Argo AI (autonomous driving, backed by Ford and VW, $1B raised) shut down in October after failing to secure new investors; tech and staff absorbed by its two automakers
Kite (AI-powered coding assistant, tens of millions raised) shut down in November; founder Adam Smith said they were "10+ years too early" and that a production-quality AI coding tool would cost over $100M to build
Insteon (smart home, 17-year-old startup, Apple HomeKit launch partner) abruptly shut down its cloud servers in April without customer warning, bricking devices
Airlift (Pakistan's largest Series B at $275M valuation) collapsed for lack of capital, damaging enthusiasm for the Pakistani tech ecosystem broadly

Connections: Ftx · Argo AI · Sam Bankman Fried · Startup Failure · Venture Capital