Roundup of news and startups that failed in November 2018
Commercial Kitchen startup, Pilotworks shuts down – Pilotworks, a startup that offered commercial kitchen space for food entrepreneurs announced that it is shutting down. “This is a sad outcome for Pilotworks, the makers in our kitchens, and independent food in general. We wish there was another option to continue operating. Sadly, there was not. The work the independent food community is doing is amazing and inspiring. We know it will live on and we are deeply sorry it will not be with Pilotworks.”
Image from Facebook
YCombinator incubated Mobile Banking Startup Seed.co Shuts Down – This week, the online banking platform Seed sent an email to its users announcing it will be winding down its customer-facing service. Seed.co was a San Francisco-based venture-backed online banking platform for freelancers and small business owners. After the mail went out, several customers tweeted that they hadn’t received any communication. Seed tweeted back confirming the news.
Failed drone startup Airware auctions assets, Delair buys teammates – Airware desperately sought cash for 18 months before running out of money and shutting down last month, leaving about 120 employees without jobs after the startup had burned $118 million in funding. Bandaid strategic investments from construction company Caterpillar and others kept Airware alive as it looked for a $15 million round, according to a former employee.
Bak USA shuts down; 77 lose jobs – Bak USA officially closed its doors today – four years after it came to Buffalo with the vision of a socially conscious, U.S.-based technology hardware company. Bak raised tens of millions of dollars in private capital and once employed more than 100 people in Buffalo during that time, but ultimately could not solve the complex financial equation that involved competing with the world’s largest technology corporations., company sources said. Each of the company’s 77 employees were notified today of the company’s imminent shutdown.
Lenny Letter Shuts Down: Lena Dunham, Jenni Konner Post Farewell Note to Fans – It’s official: Lenny Letter, the three-year-old digital-media startup from Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, is dead. Following reports Thursday that Lenny Letter would shut down Oct. 19, the co-founders and editorial and creative director Molly Elizalde confirmed the closure in a farewell message to readers.
Indian B2B marketplace Wydr shuts down – Mobile-based B2B marketplace Wydr has shut down its operations. The Bessemer Venture Partners and Stellaris VC-backed company has also suspended its website. Wydr was a marketplace for wholesale buying and selling across categories including electronics, fashion and automotive. According to its linkedin profile, Wydr had about 44 employees
Meal Kit Startup JustAddCooking Shuts down – According to media sources, Just Add Cooking (JAC), the Boston, Mass based meal kit company specializing in locally-sourced meals from the New England has ceased operations. JAC was trying to capture the market for locally sourced foods
Shut down in 2016, IntroNet just got sold to a New York-based SaaS company – When IntroNet CEO Mike Krupit shut down his startup in 2016, the founding team kept on the lookout for an exit strategy for its assets. Turns out that such a deal just came together: On Thursday, a New York-based software company called SAM.AI announced it acquired IntroNet’s assets — primarily its software and intellectual property — in conjunction with a seed round investment led by Babinec’s investment firm UpVentures Capital.
Google News May Shut Down In EU Over ‘Link Tax’ – Google may soon be going to shut down its Google News services in the European Union if a proposed “link tax” for news stories which comes into the force in member countries, according to a report. According to a report which has been revealed by a new copyright directive, adopted by the European Parliament on 12th of September, tech Giant must pay for the work of journalist and artists which they use. To simply just put the rule changes into effect, some of the individual member countries would have to draft the local news.