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Robotics Company Anki Shuts Down

posted by martyb on Tuesday April 30 2019, @06:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the who-will-buy-them-now? dept.

takyon writes:

Anki is closing the doors on its toy robot business

Anki, the startup responsible for adorable robotics, is closing its doors and will terminate nearly 200 employees Wednesday. CEO Boris Sofman broke the news to staff today, Recode reports. In a statement provided to Engadget, the company said, "A significant financial deal at a late stage fell through with a strategic investor and we were not able to reach an agreement."

The news comes as a surprise, given that things seemed to be going well for Anki. Since its launch in 2010, the startup has raised more than $200 million in venture capital. Its main products Cozmo and Vector seemed to be successes. Vector launched last fall after a $2 million Kickstarter campaign, and most recently, it received Alexa integration. And Cozmo has been credited with teaching kids to code. The only shadow of a doubt seemed to be that the devices appeared more like toys than the advanced, AI-based robots that they were. Still, Microsoft, Amazon and Comcast had reportedly expressed interest in acquiring the company.

Learn to code job-killing robots.

Also at Recode.

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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Tuesday April 30 2019, @08:41AM (1 child)

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Tuesday April 30 2019, @08:41AM (#836580) Journal

    They were successful in raising more than $200 million in venture capital, but not successful in scoring a multi-billion dollar buyout before it was too late.

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  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday April 30 2019, @08:56AM

    by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Tuesday April 30 2019, @08:56AM (#836589) Homepage
    Ah, so Ponzi it is then.
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