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Anki, the robotics company that has raised more than $ 200 million in venture capital, is laying off all of its staff and the startup is underway, Recode has learned.
At a closed meeting Monday morning, CEO Boris Sofman announced to his staff that they would be fired Wednesday and that nearly 200 employees would receive a one-week layoff, according to reports. people close to the file. Sofman had told his employees a few days earlier that the company was struggling to find more money after a new round of funding had failed at the last minute, jeopardizing the future of the company.
The start-up is often described as "cute" for the small robots it produces, such as Cozmo, but it has raised significant funds from investors such as Index Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, whose co-founder, Marc Andreessen, has the past sat on the board of directors of the company.
Anki said last fall that he had "approached" the $ 100 million in revenue in 2017 and is expected to exceed that figure in 2018. So it's not a small lemonade stand that would go bankrupt.
Management previously told employees that it was interested in acquiring companies such as Microsoft, Amazon and Comcast.
In a statement to Recode, the company said it had "no significant funding to support a hardware and software company and create a bridge to our long-term product roadmap."
"Despite our past successes, we have been looking for all the financial possibilities to finance our future product development and develop our platforms," said a spokesman for the company. "A major financial agreement was reached late with a strategic investor and we were unable to reach an agreement. We do our best to take care of each and every employee and their families, and our management team continues to explore all available options. "
Anki, founded by robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, was a big problem in the world of robotics at one point – its first product, Anki Drive, was featured on the stage during a demonstration at of an Apple event in 2013. But his buzz has cooled considerably In recent years, some investors have begun to dull against equipment games and others have struggled to understand what could be considered as a simple toy business.
This is a difficult time for the consumer robotics industry, as other companies like Jibo have had to close recently.
Although it is a popular choice in places like Toys R Us for its race cars with artificial intelligence, the company has been trying in recent years to move toys to a more developed robotics company based on artificial intelligence . We do not know what will happen to the assets of the company.
"For us, it was never meant to be a toy business or even an entertainment company. It's a robotics and AI company, "said Sofman in an episode of Recode Decode in 2017.
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