Support the fact-based journalism you rely on with a donation to Marketplace today. Give Now!

Startups are hoping for a turnaround in funding

Aug 30, 2024
Startups are suffering a hangover from the binge years of early COVID-era investment.
"A lot of the 2021 tech IPOs did not make public investors money,” says Kyle Lui, general partner at venture capital firm Bling Capital. “Eighty-four percent of the IPOs from 2021 are still underwater.”
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

How immigrant entrepreneurs help create jobs and boost the economy

Immigrants are much more likely to create a new business, studies show, and the knock-on effect is job creation.
"Immigrant entrepreneurs in the U.S. are associated with a net gain in jobs. Specifically, they're responsible for roughly one in four of all jobs in young firms," said Marketplace senior economics contributor Chris Farrell.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

It's not a great time for startups

Apr 3, 2024
Venture capital investments fell in the first quarter of this year. And that's after the worst year for startup funding since 2019.
Venture capital investments fell in the first quarter of this year, according to Pitchbook. And that’s after the worst year for startup funding since 2019.
ijeab via Getty Images

How a virtual fitness company is staying strong in a changing market

With people returning to physical gyms, Jeff Witherspoon, CEO of E2M Fitness, says doctors' advice to patients is boosting his service.
E2M Fitness founder and CEO Jeff Witherspoon. "I think all fitness companies are seeing that Peloton effect," he said.
Courtesy Witherspoon

What it takes to lure IT workers back to the Chinese countryside

Jun 26, 2023
Some city-dwellers are heeding the call of China’s government for people to return and revive the countryside.
Ex-coder Hu Hang stands in a peach orchard he co-invests in. He quit the IT sector and moved from Shenzhen back to his hometown in central Jiangxi province a few years ago. (Christian Petersen-Clausen/Marketplace)
Christian Petersen-Clausen for Marketplace

Why global investors ask: Where's Jack Ma?

Apr 24, 2023
For over two years, the whereabouts of one of China’s leading tech moguls has generated intense interest from the media and global investors. But is it warranted?
Jack Ma at a startup fair in Paris in 2019. Since China's crackdown on tech moguls in 2020, Ma has largely kept a low profile.
Phillipe Lopez/AFP via Getty Images

Americans started new businesses at a record pace during the pandemic. They're still at it.

Apr 19, 2023
Experts are not sure why entrepreneurship has remained high despite a low unemployment rate.
marchmeena29/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Want to start a business? It helps to have rich parents

Jan 18, 2023
How heavily are the odds stacked against startups without the “massive leg up” of family wealth?
EXTREME-PHOTOGRAPHER/Getty Images Plus

“Newsflash: Not all horses have perfect hair” 

Nov 24, 2022
After designing an “Afrocentric” hairpiece for her horse, Chanel Rhodes set about making colorful horse wigs for sale.
As a little girl, Chanel Rhodes never saw people like her riding horses. Now she’s an equestrian entrepreneur.
Courtesy Chanel Rhodes/Andrew Garces

Baklava bakery owner trades master's program for growing her business

Nov 22, 2022
Rita Magalde, owner of Sheer Ambrosia in Draper, Utah, is starting her busy season and planning to bring on her first full-time employees.
Rita Magalde, center, with her employees Desi Hayda, left, and Hayda's mother, Helene Simpson, right.
Courtesy Rita Magalde