Anki, a robotics company known for its Vector and Cozmo home robots along with AI-based Anki Drive cars, is shutting down, reports Recode.

Anki CEO Boris Sofman today told all Anki staff that they would be terminated on Wednesday and would be given a week of severance pay. Anki has nearly 200 employees.

vector1
Just days ago, employees were told that Anki was aiming to find additional funding after a round of financing fell through. To date, Anki had raised more than $200 million in venture capital from investors like Index Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.

Anki in 2018 said that it had earned $100 million in revenue in 2017 and expected to exceed that number in 2018, but that wasn't enough to keep the company afloat.

In a statement to Recode, Anki said that it did not have the funding to support its business and reach its long-term product roadmap.

"Despite our past successes, we pursued every financial avenue to fund our future product development and expand on our platforms," a company spokesperson said. "A significant financial deal at a late stage fell through with a strategic investor and we were not able to reach an agreement. We're doing our best to take care of every single employee and their families, and our management team continues to explore all options available."

Anki was founded by roboticists from Carnegie Mellon University and in 2013, launched its first product, Anki Drive, AI-based cars that drove themselves with customer input. After that, Anki came out with Cozmo, a robot aimed at kids, and then Vector, a more advanced robot that sold for $250.

Tag: Anki

Top Rated Comments

Unity451 Avatar
64 months ago
And just like that, robots are homeless...

Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69Mustang Avatar
64 months ago
These types of products are fun to have. But they don't really fix any kind of problem.
They're toys. They're not supposed to fix any kind of problem.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
duervo Avatar
64 months ago
These products (at least some that I know of) require a mobile app to use. Given Anki is going out of business, it’s only a matter of time before the iOS app for affected products ceases to function on a future version of iOS, which will then render the product useless.

This is why I try to steer clear of physical products that have a dependency of some sort on a mobile app in order to function as advertised.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
64 months ago
And just like that, robots are homeless...

Hey! Only AngerDanger makes GIFs around here. If you tread on his territory, bad things will happen.

Ever seen an animation of an emoji monkey getting fed unripe bananas?! Well let’s hope you don’t.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
radio893fm Avatar
64 months ago
They're toys. They're not supposed to fix any kind of problem.
You'd be surprise of what sex toys can do... but oh well, not for this forum.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
reden Avatar
64 months ago
In this day and age, a lot of startups don't realize they need to sustainable with good online term goals without having to rely on constant outside investments. Unless it can be scaled, they'll have a hard time finding investors.
Or they hire tons of people, expensive overhead, and no real idea on how they're going to make their companies profitable.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple to Launch New iPad Pro and iPad Air Models in May

Thursday March 28, 2024 11:07 am PDT by
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

Wednesday March 27, 2024 5:59 am PDT by
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
applephilschiller

Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Wednesday March 27, 2024 2:03 pm PDT by
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...