Pharrell- and Grimes-backed music startup Roli files for administration and reboots as Luminary to refocus on beginner musicians
The British music-tech startup Roli has filed for administration and will reboot as a spinout called Luminary after the twin difficulties of a niche target market and a pandemic forced a reset.
Some Roli products will live on through Luminary, set up by Roli founder and CEO Roland Lamb and Chief People Officer Corey Harrow.
The new entity has acquired Roli's intellectual property and assets and will take on its venture debt, provided by TriplePoint Capital.
Roli's about 70 employees will shift to the new business, which closed £5 million ($6.85 million) in initial funding led by the early-stage investor Hoxton Ventures, also a backer of the food-delivery firm Deliveroo and security firm Darktrace.
Roli had raised $75.7 million from individuals and institutional investors, some of whom will lose their money as a result of the administration.
Lamb set out to invent musical instruments, coming up with the Seaboard, described by Insider in 2016 as "a piano you would find on an alien spaceship," It blends something of the traditional clavier with the flexibility of a computer.
