Analysis

August 22, 2025

The AI bubble: fuelled by an ARR obsession, undone by churn?

“Investors always take numbers in context. Why have they decoupled the fundamentals all of a sudden?”


ARR: the tech world’s favourite three-letter flex. LinkedIn is abuzz with discussion about which company has the highest, and who got there the quickest.

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Picture of Lovable's cofounder and CEO Anton Osika
Lovable's cofounder and CEO Anton Osika
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Freya Pratty

Freya Pratty is a senior reporter and investigations lead at Sifted. Follow her on X , LinkedIn and Bluesky

Miriam Partington

Miriam Partington was a senior reporter at Sifted, based in Berlin. She covered the DACH region and the future of work, and wrote Startup Life , a weekly newsletter on what it takes to build a startup.

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