Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Drone operating system startup Airware today suddenly informed employees it will cease operations immediately despite having raised $118 million from top investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Google's GV, and Kleiner Perkins. The startup ran out of money after trying to manufacture its own hardware that couldn't compete with drone giants like China's DJI. The company at one point had as many as 140 employees, all of which are now out of a job.
A source sent TechCrunch screenshots from the Airware alumni Slack channel detailing how the staff was told this morning that Airware would shut down.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/14/airware-shuts-down/
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Sunday September 16 2018, @05:11PM
This _seems_ to be the way it is playing out. I briefly worked for a company that had some success selling drones to the military, but that became virtually impossible after the Gulf War ended. They tried to pivot and sell as a service to local law enforcement, but there were already competitors in that space which made for an "overserved" market....
The big thing 5 years ago was the virtual ban on US domestic use of UAVs, that made it very much like trying to build a marijuana business pre-legalization. At least possession of UAVs wasn't illegal, but using them for profit basically was.
🌻🌻 [google.com]