Quirky was an invention platform that connected inventors with companies that specialized in a specific product category.

History

Quirky was founded in 2009 by Ben Kaufman. In April 2010, Quirky received $6.5 million in Series A

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

funding, led by

RRE Ventures RRE Ventures is an American Venture capital firm based in New York City. The firm primarily invests in seed, series A and series B rounds and focuses on companies operating in the software, internet, communications, aerospace, robotics, 3D pr ...

.Quirky's 23-year-old CEO finds love with the supply chain
Paul Boutin, ''VentureBeat'', April 27, 2010 The company later received a $16 million Series B round in August 2011 led by

Norwest Venture Partners Norwest Venture Partners (Norwest) is an American venture and growth equity investment firm. The firm targets early to late-stage venture and growth equity investments across several sectors, including cloud computing and information technology, ...

, and a $68 million Series C round in September 2012 led by

Andreessen Horowitz AH Capital Management, LLC (commonly known as Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z) is an American privately held venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. As of M ...

and

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Kleiner Perkins, formerly Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), is an American venture capital firm which specializes in investing in incubation, early stage and growth companies. Since its founding in 1972, the firm has backed entrepreneur ...

. Then, in November 2013, Quirky raised $79 million in Series D funding from

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

(GE) as well as its venture investors Andreessen Horowitz, Norwest Venture Partners, RRE, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Part of the deal included a $30 million investment from GE, as well as a partnership to build 30 connected-home gadgets together in the next five years. In 2011, a

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series named ''Quirky'' debuted on the

Sundance Channel Sundance Channel can refer to: * Sundance TV, formerly known as Sundance Channel (United States). * Sundance Channel (Canada) * Sundance Channel (Netherlands) * Sundance Channel (Europe) Sundance Channel can refer to: * Sundance TV Sundance TV ...

following events at the Quirky office. The May 6, 2012, episode of CNN's ''

The Next List ''The Next List'' is a 30-minute weekend television program on CNN. It aired every Saturday afternoon at 2:30 pm ET/PT and was hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta. CNN announced cancellation in September 2013. Each week, the show profiled innova ...

'' featured CEO Ben Kaufman and the company. On July 31, 2015, Ben Kaufman stepped down as CEO following a layoff of 111 employees due to trouble getting funding. On September 22, 2015, the company filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

. The company's assets, including its website and most of its products, were bought by Q Holdings for $4.7 million in late 2015, despite objections from General Electric. Quirky's smart home

Wink A wink is a facial expression made by briefly closing one eye. A wink is an informal mode of non-verbal communication usually signaling shared hidden knowledge or intent. However, it is ambiguous by itself and highly dependent upon additional c ...

platform was sold to

Flextronics Flex Ltd. (previously known as Flextronics International Ltd. or Flextronics) is an American Singapore-domiciled multinational manufacturing company. It is the third largest global electronics manufacturing services (EMS), original design ...

for $15 million in November 2015. It was announced on February 8, 2016, that the company had new financing and owners. As of April 24, 2024, Quirky's invention submission platform is not accessible.

References

External links

* Companies based in New York City Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015 American companies established in 2009 Crowdsourcing Design companies of the United States Inventions Design companies established in 2009 2009 establishments in New York City {{Internet-company-stub

History

See also

References

External links