Some of you may remember the console known as "Ouya". It was a microconsole running its own version of the Android operating system. The console and company was founded by Julie Uhrman in 2012, and was funded by Kickstarter; raising a whopping 8.5 million dollars.
Units were being shipped to Kickstarter backers towards the end March, 2013.
Fast forward 3 years later since it's initial founding, Ouya now needs a buyer and fast. Due to the debts that the company has accumulated, Julie Uhrman is looking is sell the company to cover said debts accumulated over time.
Word leaked that the company was looking for a buyer after the founder and CEO Julie Uhrman sent out confidential emails to company investors and advisers. The letter detailed that the company had failed to restructure it's debts and as a result was on the hunt for a buyer. Uhrman also said that this process would not be lengthy, saying:
"Given our debtholder's timeline, the process will be quick. We are looking for expressions of interest by the end of this month."
- Julie Uhrman,Ouya
Apparently, the email was sent at the beginning of April, which means by now Ouya should have found a buyer or at least someone interested in buying. Just two months ago, the company raised $10,000,000 (10 million) dollars two months ago, which was not enough to cover it's debts. Which also means that they must be pretty deep in debt for such a large fund raising to not be enough.
Lets do some numbers, they initially raised $8.5 million dollars on Kickstarter, then early 2013 they pulled in $15 million from investors, followed by an addition $10 million dollars about 2 months ago. In total, Ouya had pulled in $33.5 million dollars which is an insane amount. Uhrman maintained her optimism for the console's future, saying:
"We believe that 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) - hell ya!"
- Julie Uhrman, OUYA
Gotta give Uhrman for keeping her head up, she ventured and sailed. Here's to hoping that OUYA blossoms in the future once more.
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