Glostation USA Incorporated, a virtual reality startup most widely known for creating Sandbox VR, has unfortunately filed for bankruptcy. The company submitted the legally required paperwork to declare insolvency just this week, in fact. But this end of an era appears to be quite surprising, nonetheless. Because Glostation, founded in 2016, raised funds on plenty of occasions in the past.
And its list of investors is pretty elite, as well, since celebrities such as Will Smith, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, and Orlando Bloom backed it over these meager four years. And then there are many institutional investors like Alibaba and the Stanford University which have previously financed Sandbox VR, in particular.
But the money is apparently all gone, given today’s developments. And that is primarily the fault of a single-minded business model that was all about arcades. VR arcades, to be honest, but the difference is negligible. Since this year’s lockdowns hit VR arcades just as hard as any other non-essential business.
Prior to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this Thursday, Glostation had in excess of $80 million in risk capital. That leverage is what ultimately buried it, unfortunately. The Sandbox VR brand will probably live on, however, after it’s auctioned off as part of the liquidation process.
