réactions à la news Coup dur pour Aodyo

Pour moi, autant kickstarter est assez banal pour un premier projet, mais quand une boite qui a presque 10 ans utilise KickStarter, ca veut dire que les ventes des précédents projets n’ont pas permis de financer le suivant. Ca ne fait d’eux ni des gens malhonnêtes, ni des incompétents, juste une entreprise fragile économiquement. Roli aussi a continué année après année à se financer comme cela, et là non plus ce c’était pas très bon signe.

En creux, je veux dire que ce n’est pas KS qui indique un risque, mais plutot le contexte dans lequel il est utilisé qui doit nous alerter.

Le loom est un produit qui découle directement de l’oméga, comme l’oméga V, l’anyma phi étant lui déjà développé depuis un bon moment.
Étant ancien contributeur de l’anyma phi puis d’un oméga desktop (depuis décembre 2022), j’étais encore confiant jusqu’à leur dernière news de juillet où je n’avais pas reçu de réponse à mon message sur kickstater (je ne suis pas le seul).
L’annonce du loom et sa mise au point rapide m’avait déjà bien refroidi car cela induisait que les efforts sur l’oméga n’étaient pas prioritaires et qu’un projet postérieur prenait le pas sur un autre déjà bien en retard ( suite à l’arrêt de fabrication de l’écran tactile initialement prevu sur l’omega).
Il était assez simple d’en déduire qu’aodyo avait besoin de fonds mais la communication sur ce sujet a été inexistante.
Il est par contre inacceptable de ne pas répondre aux contributeurs qui proposent des solutions ou , inquiets, posent de simples questions.
Et surtout, quelle somme manque-t’il pour terminer le projet?!
Car on est beaucoup à dire qu’il est préférable d’ajouter au panier que de tout perdre (omega+loom=380 000€).
Il y a vraiment un problème de communication et de transparence envers nous, les financeurs.

Dear backers,

First and foremost, we want to express our sincere apologies for this prolonged silence. It was never our intention to ignore your concerns, but we were working tirelessly to explore every possible solution that could allow us to continue our operations and deliver on the projects you supported. We understand your frustration and disappointment with the lack of communication and transparency over the past few months. We know you were expecting updates from us, and we regret not living up to your expectations.

The truth is that we have been going through a very challenging period since the safeguard procedure was initiated on the June 24. This legal process was supposed to help us restructure and avoid bankruptcy, but it also required us not to disclose any information that could discourage potential investors or buyers.

During the summer, we continued to work on the Loom and Omega, convinced that we would find a solution. Unfortunately, our efforts did not succeed, and we are now forced to announce what some of you may already know: Aodyo Instruments is now in liquidation.

This means that the company will cease its operations on November 1st, and that a court-appointed liquidator is overseeing the process of closing the company and managing its remaining assets to repay creditors.
We understand that this is a hard blow, and although there are details we are not at liberty to disclose due to our legal situation, we want to try and address the key concerns you raised during these last few weeks.
What happened

The Loom campaign was not a distraction, but is indeed a part of the Omega project.
We launched the campaign at a time when the Omega project was facing significant delays. Our goal was to highlight the progress we had made and to generate enough revenue to ensure the company's sustainability. We sincerely believed that after shipping all our backers, the in-store sales of Loom would allow us to finish the Omega project.

In the end, Loom was ready for production, but we did not forecast the much increased production costs and lead times partly due to sourcing difficulties for some components. The company didn't have the cash flow necessary to stomach the increased costs and delays. Moreover, after entering the safeguard procedure, we were prohibited from negotiating payment terms with suppliers.

At the time, we had other reasons to believe that these projects would continue smoothly, as we were on the verge of closing a significant fundraising round with investors, who ultimately withdrew. Additionally, we had initiated valuation discussions for some of our technologies with other industry players, but unfortunately we did not have enough time to finalize these contracts.

Just like Loom, Anyma V is not a new product but a milestone in the Omega project that allowed us to figure out the challenging topic of synth voice management. We also made sure that all contributors from both campaigns could receive a free license*, even though it wasn't what they initially contributed for, to at least deliver a small part of the Omega project, or a welcome complement to the Loom, while waiting for the hardware to be produced.
Our financial situation

The total amount raised for the Loom and Omega campaigns was 319 383 € for Omega and 177 833 € for Loom, including contributions from both Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
Some contributions were not honored, and crowdfunding platforms charge commissions and banking fees, over which we have no control. In addition, running the campaign incurred costs for content creation (including the campaign video), advertising, prototype production, etc.

We also had to invest in components to be able to secure critical parts. However, not all parts were in stock, so we were left with a significantly impacted cash flow without being able to start production right away, as we had no additional funding between the end of the Loom campaign in April and when we were ready to start production in June.
The solutions we considered

We explored all possible solutions to save both projects, but none were successful.

Several backers have suggested that we open-source the code for Loom and Anyma Omega so that the community can continue working on them. Unfortunately, this is not possible because the code is part of the company's assets, which we needed to preserve in case of a potential takeover, and which we cannot legally transfer since the safeguard procedure because it could help repay creditors during liquidation.
If a buyer acquires these projects, they will decide whether to open-source the code or continue development under different terms.

We did not consider a new crowdfunding campaign possible either. Given the lack of trust and the precarious financial situation of the company, it was unlikely that such a campaign would succeed. Moreover, the time required to organize and run a new campaign would have worsened our financial situation.

Finally, we do not have enough stock of existing products (Sylphyo and Anyma Phi) to be able to compensate all contributors fairly, even in part.
What will happen from now on

As we detailed in our previous communication, most of the campaign funds were spent on product development. Today, the company has no cash flow and is under the liquidator's control. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that contributors will recover their investment.

For the next two weeks leading up to November 1st, Aodyo will continue operating as usual, and we will remain available via our regular contact email for any urgent inquiries regarding Anyma V or other matters.
Before closing permanently on November 1st, we will send out one final update with a link to an archive of our website (which will remain accessible for one year) and instructions on how to continue activating Anyma V licenses after closure.

The entire Aodyo team deeply regrets this situation. We have invested 10 years of our lives into this venture, and we are fully aware of how disappointing this is for you.

Should a buyer come forward to the commercial court, they will decide whether to continue or not with the projects. We will do everything possible to fulfill our moral duty to you if a recovery occurs.

Once again, we want to thank you all for your support throughout this journey. We understand how disappointing this situation is for everyone involved—including us—and we deeply regret that things have come to this point.

Thank you again for your understanding,
The Aodyo team