Swiss developer of AR technologies for cars WayRay declares bankruptcy "due to Russian roots"
The company has been working on the devices since 2012, but never started selling them
The technology company WayRay has declared bankruptcy, according to the local edition of RTS, cited by vs.ru.
The company attributes the problems to "its Russian roots" and hopes to find buyers for its assets in Europe, Asia or the United States as soon as possible to save jobs.
WayRay was founded in 2012 by Russian Vitaly Ponomarev. The startup developed navigation systems with AR displays and in 2021 presented the first prototype of an electric car with AR glass. The company is headquartered in Zurich and has representative offices in the US, Germany, and China. As of the beginning of 2022, the staff in Switzerland numbered about 40 people.
According to Crunchbase, WayRay has raised $108 million in total funding.
In the winter of 2022, WayRay was preparing to receive $100 million from investors to open a new production facility, but after February 24, everything changed, a WayRay spokesperson said. Investors and banks began to be wary of companies with ties to Russia through shareholders and investors, and sanctions on border crossings or the provision of, for example, legal services limited operations.
On March 1, the Skolkovo Leaks Telegram channel quoted Ponomarev as saying that the Skolkovo resident company would close its offices and pilot production in Russia and relocate its employees to Europe.
Background. Meanwhile, it was reported that Rostec would refuse to build foreign gas pipelines and refineries due to sanctions.
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