Startups that shut down in 2016

While 2015 saw launch of three to four startups a day, the second quarter of 2016 witnessed a lot of layoffs and shutdowns. Lack of funds, plummeting sales and rising competition were the major seasons for the shutdowns. Here are the startups that shut their shops in 2016.

TinyOwl – Food-ordering firm TinyOwl shut down its operations in May in all cities where it was operational except Mumbai. The move was, however, said to be temporary as the company wanted to re-brand itself and return with a better product.

Dazo – an app based service that curated and delivered meals, has suddenly shut down its operations in October this year. Several food delivery startups have taken a hit in 2016 primarily because they were struggling to raise fresh funds of funding and do not have money to sustain operations beyond a few months. 

PepperTap – On demand grocery delivery startup PepperTap rolled back its consumer centric app in April 2016. The move to shut down its operations came due to pressure from rivals including Grofers and BigBasket, which raised substantial funding. It had also acquired another budding hyperlocal grocery marketplace, Jiffstore, but all were in vain.

Fashionara – Bangalore based company closed its business in May 2016. It scaled business in apparel, accessories and footwear segment. Unsuccessful attempts to raise money or find buyers were forcing some of the fashion portals which had resorted to deep discounting to lure customers but were confronted with a cash crunch to close or scale back their operations.

Purple Squirrel – An EdTech financial startup, backed by Matrix, closed down business in 2016. The Mumbai based startup was launched to connect students with industry leaders and big companies for industrial exposure and training. However, it was forced to shut down due to continuously dipping sales and increasing cash burn.

AskMe – The consumer internet search platform shut down in August. The shutdown left about 4000 of its employees jobless. A variety of reasons, from weak technology to aggressive acquisitions, are said to be responsible for the online retailer’s failure.

Zupermeal – This startup allowed users to pre-order food from nearby restaurants. It closed its operations in May after just eight months of raising seed funds from the celebrity chief Sanjeev Kapoor. It had raised an undisclosed amount from overseas investors in October 2015.

AUTOnCAB – Gurgaon based autorickshaw booking app AUTOnCAB has shut down its operations owing to stiff competition from its heavily funded rivals. The company reportedly was in talks to raise fresh funding for a long time but failed to seal a deal.

GrocShop - The Mumbai based startup offered grocery shopping from the comfort of homes or offices at competitive costs. It reportedly failed to find a profitable growth model in a segment which was otherwise attracting investors in droves.

FranklyMe – It was a micro-blogging website launched in 2014, with the premise of letting people expresses themselves through videos. It has raised $600k seed funding from Matrix partners. Despite the fact that it has been a well-funded company, it failed to capture the market attention and closed down all operations in February 2016.