Torquing Group, the company behind the most-funded Kickstarter campaign in Europe, the Zano drone project, has folded.
Ealier this year, the British startup raised more than £2.3 million ($3.4 million) for its handheld Zano drone project in less than two months.
In a statement sent to backers on Wednesday, however, the company announced that it would be pursuing ‘a creditors’ voluntary liquidation’.
It also stated that backers would be contacted by an insolvency practitioner next week.
The statement went on to read: “We are greatly disappointed with the outcome of the Zano project, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us during this difficult period, especially our loyal employees, whose commitment has exceeded all expectations.”
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The news follows the departure of CEO Ivan Reedman earlier this month, who left citing ‘personal health issues and irreconcilable differences’.
At time of writing, the company website appears to be offline.
Kickstarter’s rules surrounding unsuccessful projects such as the Zano state that the companies and startups are themselves responsible for ‘fulfilling the promises made in their project’.
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The mini-drone made TrustedReviews’ list of the most awesome drones and quadcopters at CES 2015.
It was expected to ship this year following the successful fundraising effort but as of this week, only 600 of the drones have been shipped, compared to the more than 15,000 ordered.
The Zano drone weighed 55g and featured a 5 megapixel camera and an 8×8 RGB pixel display.
It also used sonar and infrared to detect and avoid obstacles, and would fly back to the operator whenever power was getting low or it sensed it was too far away.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.