Economic Intelligence Brief No. 7

Built to Last

Survival rates of crowdfunded companies vs. national baselines.

79% — of funded issuers still operating

Summary

Are crowdfunded startups lottery tickets? The data says they survive at rates that beat Main Street.

Key findings

79% of funded issuers are still operating.
The 2016 cohort is 71% alive at 10 years — roughly double the ~34% BLS baseline.
The 2021 cohort is 73% alive at 5 years (vs ~50% nationally); 21% have closed.
5,869 funded issuers analyzed. (Association, not causation — selection effects apply.)

Frequently asked questions

Do crowdfunded companies actually survive?

Yes — 79% of funded issuers are still operating. The 2016 cohort is 71% alive at 10 years (roughly double the ~34% BLS baseline); the 2021 cohort is 73% alive at 5 years vs ~50% nationally.

Does this prove crowdfunding causes longevity?

No. These are association statistics with selection effects — funded issuers are pre-screened. The brief states this caveat explicitly.

Audience

Kauffman · SBA · entrepreneurship research

About this brief

Published by CCLEAR.ai. Anchored to public SEC EDGAR filings and hand-verified against a locked data snapshot. CCLEAR is a data publisher, not an investment adviser; figures describe market activity, not investment outcomes or advice.

Built to Last · CCLEAR Research Library · License the data · Commission research

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The $42.5 Billion Engine — The economic output generated by Reg CF companies.
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The Crowdfunding Genome — America's top-30 startup-crowdfunding ecosystems, ranked.
After the Raise — What happens to companies after they crowdfund.
The Language of the Raise — NLP on 6,800 pitches — the words that move money.
What Capital Costs — The cost and structure of crowdfunding capital by instrument.
Regulation Crowdfunding by Congressional District: A Report Card — A rolling, district-by-district scorecard of Reg CF activity across all 435 U.S. House districts.
Marked Up — How valuations grow when companies crowdfund again, and the paper markup that creates.
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