Blackbird has now marked its valuation of Baraja down to zero.
👉 Background: Baraja is a company that makes lasers that help self-driving cars "see"...as if they have eyes. In 2021, Baraja was valued at $300 million. Back then, it was losing money despite receiving almost $50 million from Australian VC firm, Blackbird.
👉 What happened: Blackbird has now marked its valuation of Baraja down to zero, according to sources close to Blackbird.
👉 What else: Just last month, Baraja raised a further $30 million to cover its operating costs, but made 75% of its staff redundant. Baraja struggled due to its very ambitious plans that engineers were finding hard to execute.
💡Beware of the hype cycle and its vicious ups and downs.
💡There was a time when self-driving cars were all the rage. It's predicted that by 2035, autonomous driving could create $300 - $400 billion in revenue. But, at the moment, car makers are slowing down their own adoption of autonomous technology.
💡There isn't much glory in creating self-driving car technology when actual car makers and brands have reduced their demand. And, naturally, this slowdown has been bad news for Baraja... and even worse for Baraja's investors.
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