Drone Enterprise Death List

Discussion in 'New Products, News, Advancements, etc.' started by PilotEd, Dec 12, 2019.

  1. PilotEd

    PilotEd New Member

    About a year ago, a "leader in the drone industry" called Lacson Long announced that it had renounced operations after owing employees three months of wages.


    This company, established in 2015, has entered the field of plant protection drones and claims to have modern factories in Guangdong, Henan, Harbin, Heilongjiang, and other regions. The company has a monthly production volume of more than 500 and an annual output value of more than 300 million yuan. It took about three years to fall. At that time, a strong wave of "attention" in the industry was triggered. Afterward, everyone found out that Lai Shenglong's "death game" was closely related to its frequent bombings, runaways, fall, claims, and high debt.

    With the development of the industry, the head effect has become more and more obvious. More and more companies are facing pressure from layoffs and transformations in the face of weak investment and financing and poor profit models. Based on R & D and human cost considerations, layoffs are a continuous process for many companies; many of the former "drone companies" have begun to "de-drone" and become artificial intelligence or robot companies. , Choose to start a business on another track; and when layoffs and transformation are not satisfactory, probably only "death" or "failure."

    【China】 SKY Intelligent Drone


    Closing time: March 23, 2017, Establishing time: February 2015 Status: Disbanded

    The main reason for the failure of SKY Smart is that the product backlog cannot be sold, and the funds owed to the supply chain are difficult to repay, causing the capital chain to break.


    Lai Shenglong drone Failure time: August 14, 2018, Established: July 2016, Lai Shenglong established drone business unit


    【Abroad】 Lily Robotics Closed: January 12, 2017, Established: 2013


    Lily UAV was founded in 2013 at the University of California, Berkeley, and has initially positioned its product as a "flying camera." In the spring of 2014, Lily received its first significant investment. Soon after, Lily drone's cool demo videos quickly exploded on social networks and became the headlines of major media competing to report. In December 2015, Lily announced the completion of $ 15 million in financing.


    GoPro drone


    GoPro reached its peak in 2014. In the second half of 2015, GoPro began to transform. At that time, aerial drones broke out, and many drones were equipped with GoPro action cameras, including DJI. After the cooperation with DJI broke down, GoPro decided to make its own drone.

    Syber

    In 2017, Sweden decided to impose a drone embargo on China on the grounds that it could be copied by China or used in the military field. The delay in obtaining orders and the company's long-standing financial problems ultimately led Cyber to apply for bankruptcy to the company's local court on June 15, 2018. This is a drone company that went bankrupt because of the embargo against China.


    Google Titan Aerospace


    In April 2014, Google acquired Titan Aerospace, a manufacturer of high-altitude solar drones. It is committed to designing and developing drones that can stay in the air for several years, with the goal of providing air internet to places in the world that are not covered by the network. service. On January 11, 2017, the Google Titan plan was announced as a failure and the project team was dissolved.


    Airware


    9 On September 17, 2018, according to media reports, U.S. drone flight system designer Airware announced to employees that the company will cease operations. Before the bankruptcy, the company also raised $ 100 million in financing and reached a cooperation agreement with Mitsubishi. Its sudden death shocked the outside world. The reason why Airware stopped operations is that some media believe that Airware's technology is too advanced and the market lacks supporting hardware equipment. But some in the industry believe that the lack of a market for Airware's products is the root cause of bankruptcy.


    Zano mini drone


    In 2014, the British startup team Torquing Group launched a selfie mini drone Zano on Kickstarter for crowdfunding. Zano has a built-in camera that weighs only 55 grams. In just two months, it has received support from more than 15,000 people on Kickstarter and raised more than $ 3.4 million. But a year later, most of the more than 15,000 orders were not delivered, and the company was declared closed. According to bankruptcy liquidation related rules, supporters on Kickstarter can get almost nothing in the company's bankruptcy liquidation.
     

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