Akimbo, a maker of set-top boxes that deliver broadband video to TV sets, has laid off most of its staff and is shutting down, according to reports in VentureBeat and Demo.com. The company is still looking to raise money from outside investors, but has made redundancies while it looks for a buyer.
“We went to market in February with a new strategy that was very exciting and very well received,” Akimbo CFO Peter Shantel told Demo.com. “We had recapitalized with $4 million from inside investors, and wanted to raise another $4 million from the outside. But the (VOD) market is very crowded and there’s a credit crunch. The board thought because we couldn’t raise additional funds that we need to look for a strategic partner to buy us.”
Founded in 1999, San Mateo, California-based Akimbo started off selling set-tops, but recently changed strategy to become a white label video provider. The company had to date raised around $47 million in financing.
