Hi! A French court has released a new report on how the Louvre has long ignored security flaws, including a warning that its CCTV network’s password was literally “Louvre” (which would have made the plot of “The Da Vinci Code” a little simpler). Today we’re exploring: |
- Limited Life Company: Only half of new US startups make it to their fifth year.
- Solace of Quantum: Big quantum computing companies have been cashing in on stock booms.
- Up-to-date: Tinder is betting on AI matchmakers that look through your camera roll.
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Half of new US companies disappear within five years, and only one in three make it to year 10 |
Roughly half of new US startups make it to their fifth birthday – and the most recent cohort have even dodged the recession curse (so far). According to an Axios analysis on the latest BLS data, 51.6% of private sector firms founded in March 2019 were still operating as of March 2024. Zooming out, the typical life cycle of an American startup follows a familiar curve. |
Of those founded since 1994, about one-third survived a full decade, roughly one in five make it to year 20, and only ~13% are still standing after three decades, per data from BLS. |
So, who manages to last — and who doesn't? Several factors are at play, including location and industry. Axios found that West Virginia (57.6%) and Connecticut (57.5%) had the highest five-year survival rates as of 2024, while Washington (41.1%), Missouri (43.2%), and D.C. (44.7%) ranked lowest, well below the national average. Moreover, sectors with stable, regulated demand and high entry barriers — like agriculture and utilities — tend to endure longer, while those like mining and technology see faster churn, as innovation races, winner-take-all markets, and price swings can make longevity harder to achieve. Beyond these factors, timing matters, too, as business survival tends to rise and fall with the economic cycle. Indeed, startups born just before or during downturns typically show lower five-year survival rates than those born in the subsequent recovery periods, according to BLS analysis. |
Quantum computing companies are stacking up piles of cash |
Make hay while the sun is shining, or so the saying goes. And that’s exactly what America’s quantum computing companies have been doing in 2025. Based on a still young, largely speculative technology, quantum stocks have swung dramatically (but mostly up) on the slightest shift in sentiment, with the four pure-play quantum names rising between 158% and 2,300% in the last 12 months. Sometimes there’s been an actual technological breakthrough. At other moments, rumors of a potential government endorsement, contract, or investment have been enough to send them spiking — and occasionally, good old-fashioned thin air has kept them moving higher as retail traders have piled into the stocks. For the companies themselves, a higher share price is nice, but it really has zero effect on day-to-day operations... unless they choose to cash in by selling new shares. And cash in they have, with the four stocks — D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti, Quantum Computing, and IonQ — raising more than $4.5 billion in total through some form of equity offering over the past year. |
With the exception of Rigetti Computing, which has raised the least of its peers during the past year, three out of the four quantum companies all reported a record-high cash pile in the latest quarter, giving them ample war chests to invest in the nascent technology in pursuit of “commercialization” — or, to finally make some serious cash from all of these expensive hyperspeed computers, which promise the potential for breakthroughs in all kinds of fields, from engineering to biology, finance to cryptography. |
Despite the hype, revenues remain negligible. This week, D-Wave Quantum reported revenue of just $3.7 million, with operating expenses of more than $30 million. Funding that kind of cash burn gets a lot easier when your stock is up 1,800% in the last twelve months and you can build yourself a fortress of a balance sheet to help you weather the leaner times. |
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Tinder taps AI that can analyze your camera roll to find better matches |
If you’ve grappled with describing yourself in an online dating profile beyond liking dogs, food, and walks on the beach, don’t worry: an AI matchmaker might soon be able to ascertain your interests for you. As long as you give it access to all of your personal photos, of course. In its weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, Match Group emphasized accelerating product innovation as a way to spark sales growth at its crown jewel, Tinder. Indeed, the swipe-centric dating app saw paid subscribers fall by 7% year over year in Q3 — marking nine consecutive quarters of payer numbers declining. |
One way Match plans to win over free users is by providing Tinder payers with more compatible matches, thus combating so-called “swipe fatigue.” How? A new AI-powered “Chemistry” feature that will learn about users’ personalities via a series of questions... and, with permission, look through their camera rolls for further clues about their hobbies, likes, and dislikes. |
According to CEO Spencer Rascoff, the company intends to make the “interactive matching feature” a “major pillar of Tinder’s upcoming 2026 product experience” — with Match’s Q4 guidance outlining a $14 million hit to the app’s direct revenue from user experience testing. (And, if a Match-made bot scanning your private pictures feels invasive, fret not! It won’t be the only one: Meta launched a similar edit-suggesting AI feature only last month, alongside a slew of other apps that use the tech and request access to photos.) |
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- Shares of Block are diving after the fintech giant reported a revenue miss and a ~$68 million bill on one employee event in Q3.
- The FAA has ordered a 4% cut in domestic flights as the ongoing government shutdown strains staffing, grounding more than 800 flights at major airports early Friday.
- A tenth of Meta’s total revenue last year — some $16 billion — came from scam ads and banned goods, according to internal documents seen by Reuters.
- One thousand billion dollars: Yesterday, Tesla shareholders approved a pay package that could see Elon Musk become the world’s first trillionaire (an unfathomable amount of money, even to fictional supervillains).
- Switchover: Nintendo is preparing to retire the original Switch console, the company reported Wednesday, as the Switch 2’s supercharged sales outpace its predecessor by ~2x.
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Off the charts: Which company, known for its offbeat social media presence, has recently seen its user growth slow and TikTok likes plummet? [Answer below]. |
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