A Boston startup that took part in Techstars Boston’s 2020 program is shutting down.
Cortex Automation Inc. ceased operations on March 31 and is in the process of winding down and liquidating its assets, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The startup used AI and machine learning to provide content analytics to advertisers. Cortex said its B2B SaaS platform aimed to help advertisers build more effective campaigns and de-risk their advertising budgets. The company noted in its most recent SEC filing that its web-based software was used by small startups to Fortune 500 brands, including Toyota, Marriott, L’Oreal and Ben & Jerry’s.
The company was incorporated in 2014 and emerged from stealth a year later. Co-founders Matt Peters and Brennan White previously founded and led the Boston-based social media marketing agency Pandemic Labs.
White and Peters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The SEC mandates that companies who have successfully closed a crowdfunding round file annual reports. Cortex began filing its annual reports with the SEC in 2022 after raising more than $740,000 from 1,024 investors through Republic’s platform. The round closed in February 2022.
In its offering statement for a crowdfunding round filed in December 2020, Cortex disclosed that it had already raised $1.2 million from CEO angel investors, RevUp and Techstars. The company said it aimed to be profitable in 10 months.
But the startup appears to have never reached that goal. For fiscal year-end 2022, Cortex reported that it had $49,172 in total assets and no longterm debt. Cortex said it made $145,958 in revenue during the fiscal year and had a net loss of $803,936. Revenue was down from fiscal year-end 2021, when Cortex's sales reached $291,190.
In its annual report filed April 2022, Cortex said that as of March 31, 2022, it had about seven months of runway and $553,000 in cash and cash equivalents.
Last April, the company’s filing noted it employed seven full-time people. This year, Cortex’s annual report said that it had no employees left on staff.
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