Rithmio, a Chicago startup that developed software for wearable devices, has shut down.
The company closed operations at the end last year and all of its employees have moved on, CEO and co-founder Adam Tilton told Chicago Inno. The startup's website and social channels have gone dark, and a Google search for Rithmio shows its office as "permanently closed."
Rithmio was founded in 2013 by Tilton, a University of Illinois alum, and Prashant Mehta, a U of I associate professor of mechanical science and engineering. The company had raised $3.6 million from investors such as KGC Capital Intel Capital, MAS Capital Pvt Ltd., OCA Ventures, Hyde Park Ventures Partners, Hyde Park Angels, Foley Ventures, MKRC Ventures, Serra Ventures, and New Coast Ventures.
Rithmio employed 15 people at its height, Tilton said.
Tilton wouldn't comment on the specific challenges Rithmio faced or why it shut down. He said he plans to send out a press release in the coming weeks as a "postmortem" on the company, adding that "all the usual startup lessons were learned."
He said that Rithmio's story “hasn't finished being written yet," indicating that the company could be looking to sell its assets or make an additional announcement in the press release.
"I’ll have a lot of stuff to say in a couple of weeks," he said.
Rithmio started out by developing tracking algorithms for missiles and satellites, but pivoted to wearable technology in 2014. Rithmio aimed to build software that would integrate with wearable technology to more accurately measure movement. Instead of just tracking steps, Rithmio's software could tell basketball players exactly how many jump shots they took in practice, for example.
After raising a $3 million round in 2015, Rithmio launched a consumer product, Rithmio Edge in 2016. Edge was an app for Android Wear devices that helps athletes and weightlifters track their workouts and measure progress. The app appears to be no longer available in the Google Play store.
While the exact circumstances behind Rithmio's struggles are still unknown, what is clear is that the wearable industry as a whole hasn't taken off as some had predicted. Smartwatch device shipments declined by 51.6% year-over-year at the end of 2016, and major activity tracker Fitbit laid off 110 people in January.
