Essential founder Andy Rubin clarifies that he is not selling the company but is looking for more investors: Report

tech2 News StaffMay 28, 2018 21:13:40 IST

Android creator Andy Rubin in a clarification has reportedly said that it is looking for more investors to raise money but it is not shutting down the shop after reports emerged that Rubin is contemplating to sell Essential. According to The Information report, he said that they are cancelling the development of the PH-2 the successor to the PH-1 since they want to focus on other products such as smart speakers.

Essential Phone Halo Gray variant. Essential.com

According to a report by the Bloomberg, the founder of the startup, Essential was reportedly considering to sell the company and had hired a financial services company, Credit Suisse Group AG to advise them on the sale.  It also said that company was in the lookout for potential buyers and is expected to sell the entire startup which would include the patents of its smartphones, upcoming home devices, camera attachment.

However, Rubin said in his clarification said that companies are not only looking for investors but maybe for an acquisition as well.

In 2017, Rubin's Essential was reportedly valued from $900 million to $1 billion.

Hon Hai Precision which was the manufacturing partner of PH-1 and Sprint Corp had marketed when it was launching in the US. It launched in May last year with great fanfare, however, the phone was shipped after a long time. The company was criticised for the delay since, despite a launch in May, the phone was supposed to have been shipped by June but doubts over the shipment loomed even in August. The startup was also criticised for the data leak of its customers that had given their personal information for shipping purposes.

We always have multiple products in development at the same time and we embrace canceling some in favor of the ones we think will be bigger hits. We are putting all of our efforts towards our future, game-changing products, which include mobile and home products.

— Andy Rubin (@Arubin) May 24, 2018

Recently the founder of the company had said on Twitter, "We always have multiple products in development at the same time and we embrace canceling some in favor of the ones we think will be bigger hits. We are putting all of our efforts towards our future, game-changing products, which include mobile and home products."

He reportedly added that rumours about a buy out will only worsen their fundraising efforts.