After the most successful Kickstarter campaign ever, The Pebble Time is about to start shipping with the Pebble Time Steel to follow later this summer. Despite all this, it appears that not all is well at Pebble. TechCrunch today reports that “sources close to the company” have told it that the company is having trouble maintaining its growth. Perhaps more troubling is that recent requests for new capital have been turned down by VCs, forcing the company to turn to a bank in Silicon Valley for a US$5 million loan and US$5 million line of credit. The money was reportedly needed “in order to stay afloat.”
The report adds that many employees are unhappy with the direction the company has taken as the smartwatch space becomes more and more crowded. Larger companies such as Apple, LG and Motorola as well as young startups such as Olio and Vector are bringing increasingly sophisticated devices to market. It remains to be seen how the Pebble Time which adds a colour display, a microphone and a completely user interface will stand up next to its new competitors.
If anything, Pebble’s challenge may be its ability to ramp up on take on these new larger players now competing against it. But with suggestions that even Apple Watch sales may not be living up to expectations, it may be too soon to rule out Pebble just yet.
For its part, Pebble has declined to comment about these rumours.
Source : TechCrunch