The rate at which a company spends money, especially venture capital funding, typically measured monthly and used to determine how long the company can operate before needing additional funding.
This term emerged from Silicon Valley venture capital culture in the 1990s during the dot-com boom. The metaphor of 'burning' money vividly captures how quickly startups can consume their funding, like a fire burning through fuel, and became especially prominent during discussions of failed dot-com companies.
The concept of burn rate became so central to startup culture that it spawned related terms like 'runway' (how long money will last) and 'cash burn' - creating a whole vocabulary around the anxiety of running out of money. Interestingly, some successful companies intentionally maintain high burn rates to grow quickly and capture market share before competitors.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.