In an article on TechCruch, sources say that TrackR has laid off 42 of it's 90 employees. The company, known for making bluetooth tracking-devices for things like wallets, keys, and luggage lists just over 90 emplyees on Linkedin, including investors and board members, while PitchBook notes 35 employees, meaning that this could be more than half of TrackR’s staff. TrackR raised $50 million in August after getting valued at $201 million.
While a great concept, I had honestly forgotten they existed, perhaps some of that $50 million could have went to advertising. And while I see it being a useful product, at $30 each, seems a little much for a gadget like this.
Smith, the co-founder, has also spoken in the past about the company’s ambitions to go beyond its existing tracking of smaller items based on Bluetooth and mapping. One idea, he told me in November last year, was to expand to more enterprise applications, for example measuring and “tracking” how machines are working in factories using diagnostics connected to soundwaves (machines humming differently when they are broken versus when they are working) and other details of this kind.
While a great concept, I had honestly forgotten they existed, perhaps some of that $50 million could have went to advertising. And while I see it being a useful product, at $30 each, seems a little much for a gadget like this.
Smith, the co-founder, has also spoken in the past about the company’s ambitions to go beyond its existing tracking of smaller items based on Bluetooth and mapping. One idea, he told me in November last year, was to expand to more enterprise applications, for example measuring and “tracking” how machines are working in factories using diagnostics connected to soundwaves (machines humming differently when they are broken versus when they are working) and other details of this kind.