Jawbone is no more, with the fitness tracker and bluetooth speaker company CEO liquidating the business’ assets, and moving on to the medical software and hardware industry.
First reported by The Information, CEO Hosain Rahman has moved on, with funds already raised to start Jawbone Health Hub. We had an idea this might happen when last year Jawbone started investing funds into “clinical-grade” fitness trackers, but sources tell Business Insider the company had troubles getting them to work properly.
Jawbone was once valued at $3.9 billion, but stopped production of both it’s bluetooth speakers and fitness trackers entirely last year – selling the remaining stock to a third-party reseller.
Although $165 million in funding was raised in February of 2015 last year, Jawbone was forced to sell off the UP trackers at a discount to keep the rest of the business afloat, according to Tech Insider sources.
The UP2, UP3, and UP4 lagged in sales (despite having frankly glorious app support), and struggled to make a dent in wearables market against major competitors Fitbit and Apple in the five years since it entered the market. Jawbone is currently in a legal battle claiming patent infringement against Fitbit.
Jawbone has declined to comment on the reports.