Source: https://sifted.eu/articles/startups-went-bust-2024
French deeptech Prophesee developed advanced ‘neuromorphic’ computer vision technology — meaning that it aimed to imitate the structure and function of the human brain and eye. In May 2024, it announced that its technology, which is mostly intended for smartphone cameras, was available in US tech giant AMD’s products. However, in October [2024], the company, which had raised €126m in total, filed for insolvency and entered judicial recovery. It told French publication Les Echos that its next round of fundraising had taken longer than expected.[Update Jan 29 4:30pm Pacific Time] A statement from the company:
Dear All,
The company has entered a judicial recovery procedure at the end of 2024 due to a delay in our fundraising process, which we are now in the final stages of completing with both existing and new investors.
Despite this, our operations continue as normal. My team and I remain fully committed to delivering best in class event-based sensors and solutions to our customers and partners.
Thank you for your continued support.
Cheers,
Luca Verre
CEO & Co-founder
Dear All,
ReplyDeleteThe company has entered a judicial recovery procedure at the end of 2024 due to a delay in our fundraising process, which we are now in the final stages of completing with both existing and new investors.
Despite this, our operations continue as normal. My team and I remain fully committed to delivering best in class event-based sensors and solutions to our customers and partners.
Thank you for your continued support.
Cheers,
Luca, CEO & Co-founder
Rough times for the non-AI startups
ReplyDeleteThis is no startup EEngineer.
ReplyDeleteRunning from funding round to funding round, not being cashflow positive and never having been. Changing market direction every full moon. If that's not the definition of a start-up - what is?
DeleteThis is not a surprise.
ReplyDeleteIn about 10 years, they wasted $126 million without a clear strategy, jumping from automotive to industrial automation, from mobile phones to AR/VR. It's unfortunate because the technology is interesting and has a lot of potential.
I don't know anything about Prophesee's particulars although I agree the technology is interesting and possibly has potential. But for "new" technology, it usually has to have a compelling advantage over incumbent technology, in application areas with market significance. The "valley of death" in market adoption is littered with many interesting technologies. I think we can all name several in the image sensor space. Maybe Prophesee will pull through this without too much market devaluation. Investors love to drive down valuation to be able to get a bargain. In the case of insolvency, this plays to their advantage. Wishing you good luck Prophesee!
ReplyDeleteAlthough the VP's are not very experienced. I still wonder why the help of Jean-Lu Jaffard did not help to avoid this.
ReplyDeleteJean-Luc, if not mistaken, has been retired in September 2023.
Deleteit was a short retirement ;-) : https://www.linkedin.com/posts/eyeo_eyeo-imaging-photonics-activity-7288953181349269504-G-I9?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
ReplyDelete