Lily Robotic's problems continue to pile up as a recent report says that authorities raided the company's headquarters and that it may face a criminal investigation.
There are reports that the company's headquarters in San Francisco was supposedly raided by a team of law enforcement agents early this year. Forbes got hold of Henry Bradlow, co-founder and chief technology officer of the recently folded startup company, to get his side of the story but was told that he would not remark on "rumors". Forbes also contacted the San Francisco District Attorney's office about the supposed raid but a spokesperson for the DA neither confirmed nor denied it.
Despite the lack of confirmation on the raid, one fact that holds true is that the company is in trouble. The owners of Lily Robotics, Bradlow and Antoine Balaresque, released a statement last Jan. 12 saying that the "adventure comes to an end" and that it was closing shop. The company came to the decision after it failed to gather enough funds to continue its highly-anticipated drone project.
Lily Robotics is now facing a possible criminal investigation after it was discovered that the company's highly successful launch video proved to be a fraud. The San Francisco DA's office accused the company of false promotion. As it turns out, the camera used in the video was not of the Lily drone but of another drone from a different company. An email sent to the filmmaker behind the video revealed that a GoPro was used to shoot it and that Balaresque wanted to be "extremely careful if we decide to lie publicly". Additionally, CMI Productions was not fully paid for the video.
The Lily drone was introduced back in May 2015 and instantly created a following. The concept of a remote control-free camera drone that could be thrown in the air and will fly and shoot videos on its own while following the user with the help of a wristwatch-like tracking device impressed many people so much that it quickly received a total of $15 million in funds. When pre-ordering commenced, more than $34 million worth of Lily drone orders were placed. Lily Robotics did promise to refund its customers within 60 days from the date of the announcement.
