Thematic next-wave portfolio constructor Motif goes bust

Thematic next-wave portfolio constructor Motif goes bust

Motif trading platform, which claimed to use data driven methodologies to enable the creation of thematic and “next-wave” portfolios (translation: they grep 10Q’s for keywords) has rather abruptly shut  down. Their own advisors heard about it via Twitter. Yes, it did come with %FIRSTNANE%, who cares I guess… pic.twitter.com/3IuwpuBJQG — Hylland Capital (@HyllandCapital) April 18, 2020 They also had developed some  “next generation thematic ETFs” like “human evolution reimagined” (SPTX), which were launched by Goldman…

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Pley, that hot start-up that rented Legos by the month inexplicably failed.

Pley, that hot start-up that rented Legos by the month inexplicably failed.

So yeah, I decided with WeWork and $TSLAQ and assorted unicorn b.s (like TIL that Softbank put $300M into a dog walking app can you believe that?) even though I’m busy with normal things, I am rekindling VCrap. On a whim I decided to look up a company I heard about a few years ago, a hot start-up that secured $6.75M series A …to rent Legos by the month. That was in March 2014. In Feb,…

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Munchery is over.

Munchery is over.

On demand food delivery start-up Munchery is bankrupt and shutting down effective immediately. They’ve burned through $125 million in VC, their last round was $87 million in 2015 at a $300 million valuation. Apparently the early effects of this are bare shelves in Amazon’s Go Stores. It’s like a Lehman Brothers moment which could cascade throughout the entire dime-a-dozen mobile food-on-demand-delivery service start-up sector. Read more.

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Mad Catz delisted from NYSE, files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy

Mad Catz delisted from NYSE, files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy

Peripheral maker Mad Catz has thrown in the towel after unsuccessfully scouring for (pick one), bank financing, an equity infusion or sale of assets. Apparently after enjoying a fairly solid business as a peripheral and game controller manufacturer during the  Playstation Era, the company tried to expand into publishing with an ill-fated JV with Harmonix to release Rock Band 4. The rest is, as they say, history, but in a more literal and fatalistic sense….

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‘Sup’ is down.

‘Sup’ is down.

The ‘Sup’ app, whose “boil the ocean” mission was to help people figure out which of their friends are nearby, and possibly available to hang with, will be shutting down. Despite being touted as “a really cool app” by the likes of Richard Branson and Steve Wozniak, it’s come up short: “We saw growth but we didn’t see the hockey stick growth that we needed to see to actually make it a viable billion dollar business and…

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Walgreens to pull plug on Drugstore.com, Beauty.com

Walgreens to pull plug on Drugstore.com, Beauty.com

In a cost cutting initiative, Walgreens will shut down drugstore.com and beauty.com by the end of September, proving once again that when placing your faith in “category killing” domains, the only thing you may kill is your own business. Walgreens acquired their fleet of ecommerce sites in 2011 for $429 million. They will incur a charge of $115 million pre-tax as part of the shutdown. Drugstore.com launched in 1999 (of course!) and IPO-ed at $65/share…

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DAO ether trading platform DOA after cyber-heist

DAO ether trading platform DOA after cyber-heist

This one is a heartbreaker, nobody likes to see malevolent actors succeeding in killing an entire company but that’s what’s happened with the ether crypto-currency trading platform DOA. Thieves have reportedly stolen $50 million in an “ongoing cyber-heist” from the platform, forcing it to shut down.

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