SimpleClosure Shutdown Report - who is actually dying while AI takes the money
SimpleClosure went through every company it helped close between January and June 2026. The money and the mortality point in opposite directions.
- AI took 86 cents of every US venture dollar and produced 14.4% of shutdowns; B2B SaaS produced 27.3%
- the median AI company closed with $30,000 still in the bank against $13,000 for everyone else, and 91% of them shut down with cash left
- megadeals of $100M+ captured 87.5% of the $412.7B invested in H1, leaving 12.5% for seed through Series B combined
That last number is the one to price your raise against; the caveat is that the sample is SimpleClosure's own client base, not the whole market.
https://simpleclosure.com/blog/insights/state-of-shutdowns-h1-2026/
📎 Read also:
→ Fenwick and Carta Q1 2026 Venture Beacon
→ A $1B exit - 8x harder than getting into Harvard
→ 105 YC founders now work at OpenAI or Anthropic
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