Despite Popular Kickstarter, Pebble Seeks $5 Million Loan 'To Stay Afloat'
Popular smartwatch maker Pebble appears to be in some financial trouble, according to a few sources "close to the company," as reported by TechCrunch. The company is having trouble maintaining its growth, turning to a bank in its home base of Silicon Valley for not only a $5 million loan but a $5 million line of credit. According to those same sources, banks in the Valley have been turning down Pebble's financial support requests repeatedly.
The smartwatch company's rocky monetary troubles come a few weeks after a well-publicized Kickstarter campaign, which reached its $500,000 goal in under 20 minutes of going live. The project's final funding amount - which received numerous stretch goals along the way - saw 78,471 backers pledge $20,338,986 for the new slimmer design and color display smartwatch.
The company actually received around $18 million from the Kickstarter campaign, after fees, and currently staffs about 150 people with more being hired in new positions. Despite all of this success, and an infusion of forward momentum thanks directly to Apple's Apple Watch-focused "Spring Forward" event, the logistics of running the company have forced CEO Eric Migicovsky and fellow company heads to seek venture capitalist funding "in order to stay afloat."
TechCrunch's source also noted that numerous employees were unhappy with the company's direction "as it turns to face competitors from Apple, Android, and outside." This is perhaps alluding to the company's nonchalant attitude towards poking fun at Apple on its own website and Migicovsky's somewhat apathetic responses to Apple's impending entrance into the smartwatch market.
With Pebble facing such troubles just a few weeks after the Apple Watch launch, two events that may yet still be unrelated, it'll be interesting to see how Apple's competitors in the smartwatch market maneuver themselves to stay successful in an ever-growing and crowded field. Still, some employees are happy with Pebble and see a good future for the still-fairly-young company. “We’re a young company. The outlook for Pebble is very positive,” said a current employee who preferred to remain anonymous when speaking with TechCrunch. “It’s been a remarkable journey thus far.”
Popular Stories
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
iPhone 17 Pro's alleged design via Front Page Tech
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone...
Apple today announced refreshed 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air models, now featuring the M4 chip, an upgraded camera, and a new "Sky Blue" color option.
"Sky Blue" is an all-new blue finish that joins Midnight, Starlight, and Silver. Apple describes it as a "beautiful, metallic light blue that creates a dynamic gradient when light reflects off of its surface." Space Gray is no longer available. ...
Apple today announced the 11th-generation iPad, now featuring the A16 chip and more storage.
The announcement came alongside the debut of the new iPad Air, which now features the M3 chip. From Apple's press release:
The A16 chip provides a jump in performance for everyday tasks and experiences in iPadOS, while still providing all-day battery life. Compared to the previous generation, the...
Apple today introduced new 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air models with the M3 chip, along with an updated Magic Keyboard for the device.
With the M3 chip, the new iPad Air should offer up to 20% faster performance compared to the previous-generation model with the M2 chip, which was released in May 2024. In addition, the M3 chip brings hardware-accelerated ray tracing to the iPad Air for the...
The upcoming iOS 18.4 update for the iPhone includes two smaller but meaningful improvements for Apple's in-car iPhone mirroring system CarPlay.
First, CarPlay now shows a third row of icons, up from two rows previously. However, this change is only visible in vehicles with a larger center display. For example, a MacRumors Forums member noticed the change in a Toyota Tundra with a 14-inch...
The new MacBook Air has a useful upgrade: it natively supports up to two external displays, in addition to the laptop's built-in display.
In other words, the latest MacBook Air can be used with a pair of external displays without needing to keep the laptop's lid closed.
Apple's tech specs for the new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air:Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the...
Apple today announced that it has updated the Mac Studio with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chip options, Thunderbolt 5 ports, and more.
The M4 Max chip was already released last year in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro. It can be configured with up to a 16-core CPU, up to a 40-core GPU, and up to 128GB of unified RAM. Geekbench 6 benchmark results indicate that the M4 Max is up to 75% faster than...
Apple today updated the MacBook Air with the M4 chip, and the laptop is also available in an all-new Sky Blue finish alongside Silver, Starlight, and Midnight.
YouTuber Andru Edwards has showed off the Sky Blue color in a few real-world photos.
Keep in mind that the Sky Blue finish is not very saturated. However, the color's appearance will vary based on lighting conditions.
View ...
Apple today announced a completely redesigned Magic Keyboard accessory for the iPad Air.
The new keyboard features a larger built-in trackpad, a 14-key function row, and a new aluminum hinge. From Apple's press release:
The all-new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air expands what users can do at an even lower price. The larger built-in trackpad brings greater precision for detail-oriented...
