Last September, Crowdfund Insider revealed that OUYA was rumored to be making its way to the sale block. The Android gaming startup rocketed to fame and potential fortune back in 2012 during a 29-day Kickstarter campaign, which it raised $8,596,474 from over 29,000 backers. Unfortunately, the device consistently received negative reviews and backlash after some of its backers were disappointed in the final results as the popularity waned so did the funding.
Now, according to Fortune, creators of OUYA are preparing to auction off the company, as they are unable to restructure its debt. Investment bank Mesa Global, which recently managed the sale of music service Songza to Google, has been hired to manage the process. No word yet on asking price.
Following its crowdfunding campaign, OUYA did a $15 million VC funding round, which was led by Kleiner Perkins, and it secured some venture debt from TriplePoint Capital. Also, the Android gaming system company recently received a $10 million funding boost from Chinese e-commerce company, Alibaba, and the two companies have discussed a plan to incorporate the device’s software and library of more than 1,000 into Alibaba’s set-top box.
Several months back while addressing details about the Ouya and Alibaba funding exchange, Re/Code stated:
“Sources tell Re/Code that the acquisition would be for staff talent more than the company’s console product, which has not found much traction with gaming consumers after it launched last year. While Chinese companies could make their own consoles, sucking up a company like Ouya would move it forward quickly.”
CEO of OUYA, Julie Uhrman, told Fortune:
“Given our debtholder’s timeline, the process will be quick. We are looking for expressions of interest by the end of this month.”
Uhrman then went on to add:
“Our focus now is trying to recover as much investor capital as possible. We believe we’ve built something real and valuable. I continue to read the tweets and emails of our fans who play OUYA every day, and our catalog is now over 1,000 apps and 40,000 developers. We have the largest library of Android content for the TV (still more than Amazon) — hells ya!”
Hope springs eternal.
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