Quirky entered into an agreement to sell it for $15 million to Flextronics worldwide . Some of its most successful products include a flexible surge protector and a modular storage system inspired by milk crates.
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The inventive hardware startup has been publicly struggling over the previous year , pivoting away from its original – and unprofitable – model of building products suggested by its community and focusing instead on making partnerships with established companies like GE.
But the change in focus didn’t fix Quirky’s immediate problem: it needed cash. The company also would have to start paying on $8 million of the Undercurrent purchase price that had been deferred. The move deprived Quirky inventors of access to some of GE’s patents.
New York City-based Quirky, which refers to itself as a “revolutionary online idea factory and marketplace”, said the bankruptcy was triggered by its failure to effectively manage and finance costs linked to the roll-out of unusual gadgets such as the “egg minder”, which notified smartphones when eggs were going bad.
If other bids are not accepted, Wink will likely be acquired by Flextronics, a $26 billion company with its USA headquarters in San Jose, California.
Statements from both Quirky and Wink stress that the the bankruptcy will not impact Wink’s customers or its relationship with The Home Depot and Amazon.
Andreessen partner Scott Weiss called Quirky a “great idea”, adding “we stand firmly behind the employees of Quirky and will do everything we can to help them find their next job”. Discussions with 35 potential bidders resulted in no acceptable offers for the company, it said.
Quirky-which generated more than $100 million in revenue in 2014-was featured on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list this year. And this summer founder Ben Kaufman publicly admitted the company was essentially out of money – he left the company shortly after that.
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Yuliya Chernova contributed to this article.
