The shutdown count behind the reset

What was counted

The dataset includes accounts explicitly closed for an out-of-business reason. Some firms may have closed without identifying that reason; others were never Carta customers. This makes the number a lower bound for this platform, not a national shutdown tally.

Who was affected

Carta reported year-over-year increases in closures at seed, Series A and Series B. The rises were 102%, 61% and 133%, respectively. A prior priced round was therefore no guarantee of survival when a company needed to finance its next stage.

The denominator matters

Carta's customer population had grown, so more absolute closures were partly expected. Its report says closures outpaced the platform's growth, but that does not turn the raw count into a cohort failure probability. To assess risk, track a defined vintage and its population over time.

The figure is most useful as a directional operational signal: a rising count in a defined system. It does not support a claim that a specific percentage of all venture-backed firms closed that quarter.