Anki, the San Francisco-based robotics company that specialized in making smartphone-controlled toys, is shutting down this week, reports Recode. The sudden news, delivered to staff today by CEO Boris Sofman, means the company’s staff of nearly 200 people will be out of job by Wednesday, with only one week of severance. Anki raised more than $200 million in venture capital funding to date.
- The San Francisco-based company Anki, which is behind the smartphone-controlled toy race car set, Anki Overdrive and robot toys Cozmo and Vector, is terminating all of its nearly 200 employees.
- Anki told Engadget it pursued every financial avenue to fund its future product development and that management continues to explore all options available.
- “Despite our past successes, we pursued every financial avenue to fund our future product development and expand on our platforms,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to Recode.
- CEO Boris Sofman had previously told staff that companies including Microsoft, Amazon and Comcast were interested in acquiring Anki, but such a deal never materialized.
- Anki, is preparing to lay off all company staff after failing to secure enough funding.
Article Source:
https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/29/18523124/anki-drive-robot-toy-company-out-of-business-shutting-down
https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/29/anki-robotic-toy-startup-closing/
https://mobilesyrup.com/2019/04/29/robot-toy-company-anki-shutting-down/