Some World Class Startups Have Stopped Operating In 2019

Many startups fail to continue business for various reasons. Throughout 2019, TechCrunch launched a list of global and large-scale startups who decided to stop operating.

The list mentioned that there were14 independent startups finally closed down. Some of them are startups which will be discussed below.

Anki (2010 – 2019)

The startup in the robot and artificial intelligence (AI) business managed to raise US $ 182 million or around Rp 2.5 trillion. Three years ago, the company invested heavily to make a small robot called Cozmo. To produce different emotions in the eyes of Cozmo, the company recruited former Pixar animators and Dreamworks.

At the end of 2018, the company launched the Vector robot which is similar to Cozmo but intended for adults. In April 2019, Anki decided to stop operating, despite having sold 1.5 million robots and hundreds of thousands of Cozmo robot models.

Chariot (2014 – 2019)

The startup in the field of mass transportation in the form of a van managed to raise funds of US $ 3 million or around Rp 41.7 billion. Ford acquired the startup two years ago but later closed it in early 2019. The company did not provide a detailed explanation of the reasons for the closure. However, the company says that the wants and needs of customers and the city are changing rapidly.

Daqri (2010 – 2019)

This startup in the field of augmented reality (AR) managed to raise US $ 132 million or around Rp 1.8 trillion. Daqri closed operations around September and completed the sale of assets.

Daqri is one of the many companies in this sector that failed to hook the company as a customer and competed with Magic Leap, Microsoft, and others.

HomeShare, Stopped Operating in 2019

During rising property prices, HomeShare provides services to bring together friends to share apartments, and facilitate the creation of “micro-rooms”. This property startup has raised US $ 4.7 million or around Rp. 65.4 billion.

The company said that as of last March, they had around 1,000 active residents. As part of the closure, HomeShare said residents will not get a deposit back for their partitions, but they can save or sell them.

Jibo (2012 – 2018/19)

This startup in the robot field has raised US $ 72.7 million or around Rp 1 trillion. Jibo was technically dead at the end of 2018. However, Techcruch put him on the list of reasons to judge Jibo’s death dramatically.

Jibo must end despite the success of raising funds. The company was forced to lay off almost all of its staff and eventually sent Jibo to live in the robo-farm.

MoviePass (2011 – 2019)

This ticket service startup managed to raise US $ 68.7 million or around Rp 957 billion. MoviePass was also briefly acquired by data analysis company Helios and Matheson in 2017.

The company seems to be facing a new disaster every week because of financial ‘bleeding’, limiting its services, experiencing blackouts, to borrow more money.

Munchery (2010 – 2019)

This food delivery startup managed to raise US $ 125 million or around Rp 1.74 trillion. The company announces business closures to its customers via email. After the announcement, the vendors accused Munchery of taking advantage of them in the last hours, while still allowing them to make shipments that the company could not pay.

My Nominee (2012 – 2019)

This cookware startup has raised US $ 145 thousand or around Rp. 2 billion. After several successful Kickstarter campaigns valued at US $ 1.3 million, support from Samsung Ventures, to changes to the meal planning business, this startup still could not last.

The other 6 startups are Osterhout Design Group, Omni, Scaled Inference, Sinemia, Unicorn Scooters, and Vreal. That’s the list of world startups that went out of business or were acquired by other startups in 2019.