Anki
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Anki developed app-connected racing toys and interactive consumer robots, including Cozmo and Vector.
02 / Anki FAILURE REASONS
Failure factors supported by verified evidence
The company could not secure the additional financing needed to continue operating.
The company could not secure the additional financing needed to continue operating.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Operations ended
The company or service stopped operating.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
On April 29, 2019, CEO Boris Sofman told Anki's workforce of just over 200 people in an all-hands meeting that they would all be terminated by Wednesday, May 1: a last-minute round of financing had failed to materialize, and acquisition interest from companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Comcast had come to nothing.
- 02
Anki shut down in May 2019 after burning through nearly $200 million in venture capital; it had claimed over 1.5 million products sold and close to $100 million in 2017 revenue.
- 03
In December 2019, Pittsburgh-based edtech startup Digital Dream Labs acquired Anki's assets — including Cozmo, Vector, and Anki Overdrive — and announced plans to relaunch the robot line with updates and new features.