Median new unicorn now just 4 years old, a16z says AI apps boom yields mostly slop
a16z · x · 2026-09-19
a16z's Charts of the Week: the median new unicorn is just over 4 years old, a 37% decline since 2023, while the overall median remains 15 years. Separately, new apps per month have doubled or quadrupled across iOS, Android and Chrome thanks to AI codegen, but downloads and ratings are stagnant, and the share of apps reaching any escape-velocity threshold (10+ ratings, 100+ downloads) has plummeted — evidence that "App-Slop" is the story for now.
Related event: a16z: AI Code Generation Floods App Stores, Downloads Flat(4 posts)→
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