For the last year, economists and media personalities alike have been sounding the alarm on an impending recession. The months passed and business continued. With every quarter, the market analysts recalibrated their expectations and some, the most optimistic of the bunch, said we were out of the clear entirely. Yet as we enter into the chill of autumn, the signs are not encouraging. According to recent data released by Carta, last quarter marked the beginning of a wave of startup shutdowns, with 229 reported bankruptcies in Q3 2023, triple the number of bankruptcies reported for the same quarter in 2021 during the peak of the pandemic-era hype. Down rounds are on the rise too. Of Series A financings, 16% were down rounds in 2023, in comparison with 8% in 2022. Late-stage companies have fared the worst, with 31% of Series D rounds and 24% of Series E rounds priced at discounts from their prior rounds. So things aren’t looking so good. At the very least, thankfully the holidays are coming up…