This study empirically identifies the effects of innovations on firms' survival during the COVID-19 pandemic and the factors moderating the impact of innovations on firms' survival. The dataset of this study uses three consecutive COVID-19 surveys that are the follow-up of the World Bank Enterprise Survey. All the surveys used the same stratified sampling method on the same population. The study's results offer crucial insights into how innovations influence business survival during the pandemic. The univariate Kaplan-Meier survival function is utilized in the study first to depict graphically whether firms' survival probability varies with and without innovation. The Cox proportional hazard models are then employed to assess the impact of breakthroughs on firms' survival. The study reveals that innovations of any kind, such as product, distribution, marketing, and organizational innovations upturn the survival probability of businesses during the pandemic. The study also reveals that, albeit with slight alterations in impact size, the effects of innovations on business survival are robust among enterprises of all sizes and industries. This study offers crucial managerial policy implications and issues regarding innovation and firms' survival relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic.