The Russian manufacturer of portable projectors declared bankruptcy

The Multicubic company, which managed to gain fame thanks to the release of portable projectors, filed an insolvency application with the arbitration court on June 22, 2022. The claim itself has not yet been considered by the court. Details of the case (no. A40-131073/2022) are also still unknown.

According to the telegram channel @ruarbitr, the reason for the appeal to arbitration could be the debts that the company had accumulated before the company "O-s-center", which was engaged in the distribution of goods. Debts, in turn, arose in connection with obligations to return low-quality products. 

The Russian startup was registered in November 2014. Since 2016, Multicubic has been registered on the territory of Skolkovo. The main beneficiary of the company (with a share of about 39%) was entrepreneur Mikhail Bukhovtsev.

By the end of 2018, it became known that the company managed to attract investments in the amount of more than 260 million rubles. 

The main investors were the funds for the development of Internet initiatives (FRII) and venture capital investments RBF Ventures, which allocated 60 million and 140 million respectively for the development of the company. In addition, business angels took part in the project (for example, Fyodor Zakharov and Pavel Roitberg).

Despite the fact that the company failed to make a profit over the five-year period, the startup was praised by many entrepreneurs, journalists and politicians. The Kommersant publication a few years ago called the Multicubic technologies breakthrough. 

It was about the production of a projector called "TV Cube". In foreign countries, the device was distributed under the Cinemood brand. It was assumed that the device would gradually displace competitors' products from the market, combining the functions of a family TV and a tablet.

Experts believe that the company could not withstand the downturn experienced by sales of such devices during the pandemic. Delivery times gradually lengthened, and components for assembling gadgets became more and more expensive. 

The startup was also damaged by the amazing bonuses that the company generously promised to pay to its distributors.

As a result, O-s-Center won a lawsuit against the company in the arbitration court in the amount of 47.3 million rubles. Of these, 17.9 million were in arrears on premium obligations. Another 12.5 million were not paid for the return of the goods, which were never sold by the distributor. And this is not to mention the losses in the amount of 468 million rubles accumulated over the period from 2015 to 2020.