Martian Watches is the next smartwatch maker to bite the dust
- Martian Watches announced it ceased operations and closed the company.
- The smartwatch maker was unable to gather enough funds to complete production of its mVoice G2.
- Martian was founded in 2007 and was notable for sticking a small display in analog watchfaces.
U.S.-based smartwatch maker Martian told Kickstarter backers that the company will cease operations after it failed to raise enough money, reported Android Police.
According to the message sent to backers, Martian was able to raise over $276,766 after deductions for certain fees toward its mVoice G2 smartwatch. By the end of the mVoice G2's Kickstarter campaign, it garnered almost $337,000 from 2,034 backers.
Martian also confirmed that it managed to ship 480 mVoice G2 units to backers in April as part of the pilot production batch. However, the company hit a snag and needed more funds than what was given to them through Kickstarter to complete production.
Martian turned to venture capitalists, private equity firms, and a lead investor to try and secure a $15 million funding round. It even turned to current investors, who already loaned $1.5 million in convertible notes.
Unfortunately for Martian, it was unsuccessful in both ventures and decided to shut down operations and close the company immediately. The company said it does not have enough liquid assets to pay its debts, so the next steps are to liquidate the remaining assets, find out how many creditors there are and how much their claims are worth, and figure out how much its assets are worth.
It is not clear if there will be any refunds for mVoice G2 backers, though Martian said it will take around 30 days to provide an update on the situation.
The news caught more than a few people off guard, with the mVoice G2's Kickstarter page filled with angry and discontent backers. Early backers spent anywhere from $99 to $139 for a discounted mVoice G2, while they spent anywhere from $220 to $265 for two units.
It is a sad ending for Martian, which was founded in 2007 and launched the first smartwatch with Amazon Alexa integration last year in the mVoice. The company notably equipped many of its watches with a small display within the analog watchface that notified wearers of incoming messages, calls, and more.
Martian now joins Pebble in the graveyard of failed smartwatch makers, with the attention now on which is the next company to go under.
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