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Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

techcrunch.com

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Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#31

Post by bmurray7jhu »

gammateam wrote: post #23
bmurray7jhu wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When VC backed companies shutdown, the logistics are typically outsourced to specialist firms like Sherwood Partners [1]. Instead of a formal bankruptcy in federal court, an alternative process called "assignment for the benefit of creditors" is used to distribute assets to creditors under state law. Patents are usually sold to patent trolls or companies seeking a defensive portfolio. An attempt is usually made to se…

yes, I've heard of California's ABC liquidation process, which also blocks creditors. whats the drawdown look like? how much money do VCs lose, percentage wise given their liquidity preference? there is no scatterplot or case study or statistics at all? maybe an obscure SSRN article? Publication from a VC itself?

Junior creditors frequently receive more under an ABC than they would under a bankruptcy. The reason is that any creditor can preempt an ABC filing by petitioning for an involuntary bankruptcy in federal court. To avoid an involuntary bankruptcy, the senior creditors are usually willing to let the trustee make compromises when settling with junior creditors.

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#32

Post by WillPostForFood »

Fordec wrote: post #16
jakelarkin wrote: post #7

so it seems like Drones is one of the first big nascent industries, SV utterly lost to China b/c of their dominance of manufacturing?

SV is good at Software, UI/UX and, historically anyway, Silicon. But it can't do end hardware. And the stuff it has been successful at is designing consumer hardware but outsourcing the manufacturing to another country. Arduino is Italian. Samsung is South Korean. TSMC is Thai. ARM and RPi is British. Shenzhen is the hardware place to be now. It didn't even steal that crown from SV. It stole it from Akihabara.

But it can't do end hardware.

There is a great history of end hardware in SV. It has moved off shore chasing lower costs and fewer regulations. Great video tour of the Mac factory in Fremont:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUjyh2Fhnuk

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#33

Post by teraflop »

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why is Techcrunch using a screenshot of Airwave's Slack channel in a news article about Airware? Is there some connection between the two companies that I'm not aware of? Or did they just not bother to read what their "source" sent them?

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#35

Post by moritzplassnig »

harryh wrote: post #29
gammateam wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, I've heard of California's ABC liquidation process, which also blocks creditors. whats the drawdown look like? how much money do VCs lose, percentage wise given their liquidity preference? there is no scatterplot or case study or statistics at all? maybe an obscure SSRN article? Publication from a VC itself?

Typically companies don't shut down until they are out of money or almost out of money so VCs lose basically everything. Common shares go to zero (as they should).

And those companies usually took on debt additionally which is more senior than the equity investors.

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#36

Post by smacktoward »

flyinglizard wrote: post #9
jakelarkin wrote: post #7

so it seems like Drones is one of the first big nascent industries, SV utterly lost to China b/c of their dominance of manufacturing?

SV didn't lose to China; everyone lost to DJI. Their competence was staggering (I think they kind of slowed down lately being that they're so far out from everyone; throttling their innovation a bit). If DJI represents the future of Chinese corporations[0], many people on the other side of the ocean should be very wary. [0] edited from "products". In fact what's so impressive with DJI is not just the products themsel…

> In fact what's so impressive with DJI is not just the products themselves, but also the design, marketing and branding, which is kind of an Apple/GoPro hybrid. They are not just creating immense value - they are packaging it the right way.

This is what always struck me as so short-sighted about Western corporations offshoring their manufacturing. Japan and the Asian Tigers proved that it's possible for nations to successfully climb the value chain, starting off by doing low-skilled work and then using the experience gained from that to gradually take over more and more of the overall product development process. China is just taking that approach and applying it at a larger scale than anyone has ever done before.

When a company like Apple contracts out its manufacturing to a Chinese firm, it's betting that Apple will always be able to produce better design and marketing than that Chinese firm can. But based on history, that doesn't strike me as a very good bet. Eventually the Chinese firm will climb high enough on the value chain where they don't need Apple's designers and marketers to make objects that sell anymore. The Western companies are training their own replacements.

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#37

Post by dasil003 »

teraflop wrote: post #33

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why is Techcrunch using a screenshot of Airwave's Slack channel in a news article about Airware ? Is there some connection between the two companies that I'm not aware of? Or did they just not bother to read what their "source" sent them?

Yeah that jumped out at me as well, I googled the two terms to see if there was some connection or renaming but couldn't find anything.

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#38

Post by propter_hoc »

pbarnes_1 wrote: post #34

How do you go from opening a new office in Tokyo to shut down in 4 days? Unless literally no one is looking at the bank balance? Did someone log in this morning, see the balance at a negative, and shut down the company?

Usually when things happen this way it means that facts changed in some way. Either they presumed until today that some sale or financing deal would come through, or their investors met and decided they had had enough.

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#39

Post by lbotos »

teraflop wrote: post #33

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why is Techcrunch using a screenshot of Airwave's Slack channel in a news article about Airware ? Is there some connection between the two companies that I'm not aware of? Or did they just not bother to read what their "source" sent them?

the article mentions that it was their "alumni slack" so I guess it's a portmanteau of "Airware" and "wave goodbye"?

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#40

Post by romski »

teraflop wrote: post #33

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why is Techcrunch using a screenshot of Airwave's Slack channel in a news article about Airware ? Is there some connection between the two companies that I'm not aware of? Or did they just not bother to read what their "source" sent them?

Slack of Airware alumni
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