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Andy Rubin-backed CastAR reportedly shutting down due to lack of funds

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CIOL Writers
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castAr is reportedly shutting down due to lack of investment

CastAR, a promising and ambitious augmented reality startup co-created by two former Valve employees and funded by Android co-creator Andy Rubin is reportedly shutting down due to lack of investment.

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Citing former employees, a Polygon report says that approximately 70 people have been laid off from company's Palo Alto headquarters and it's Salt Lake City studio which was comprised of former Eat Sleep Play and Avalanche Software employees.

The company was building a headset device that projected holographic images into the field-of-view of a user. The company, which had plans to launch its self-contained AR glasses later this year, is now working and trying to sell the existing technology, as per the report.

Backed by Andy Rubin's finance group Playground, the startup was facing investment issues. According to former employees, Playground Global declined to invest any more in the company last week, and the castAR also failed to grab Series B funding from other potential investors.

Founded in 2013 by Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson, castAR started as a campaign on Kickstarter, where it raised over $1 million. After shipping an early design of its mixed reality glasses to its backers, the startup secured $15 million in funding from Andy Rubin's Playground. In September 2016, it opened its studio in Salt Lake City, Utah. And in the following month, castAR acquired Eat Sleep Play, the developer of Twisted Metal.

We are yet to hear any official comment from either CastAR or Playground Global.

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