INVESTORS SMELL A RAT AT DIGISCENTS
2001-04-15
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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An ambitious company that had planned
to add the sense of smell to computing has shut down, after
financial backers apparently tired of smelling burning cash.
DigiScents Inc., a developer of technology that would have equipped computers to create odours on command, was unable to secure new funding from earlier investors, including Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd., the company said.
Oakland-based DigiScents, which had been developing a hardware and software platform for producing digital smells, shut down Wednesday, a quiet end for a company launched amid fanfare in 1999.
With some $20 million (U.S.) in funding - half of which came from Pacific - DigiScents had been working with Web sites, media companies and consumer product makers to bring to market its iSmell platform for interactive media such as video games.
The idea behind odour-producing interactive media was to create a more lifelike experience for users.
DigiScents had deals with 5,000 Web site, software and video game developers to use the iSmell platform, which was nearing the manufacturing stage when investors cut off funding, the company said.
DigiScents chief executive Joel Bellenson said the tight funding climate made pitching the unconventional company a hard sell to investors.
"We don't fit very easily into what people are funding," he said.
Pacific Century, DigiScents' biggest investor, is facing financial problems of its own. Last month, the Hong Kong-based telecom and Internet firm said it lost $886 million (U.S.) in 2000.
According to a Pacific Century statement, the company invested $10 million for a 12.5 per cent stake in DigiScents in February, 2000.
The DigiScents spokesperson said the firm will continue to license its technology.
DigiScents president Dexster Smith said he and co-founder Bellenson also will continue with their efforts to raise money.
"We're basically trying to position ourselves for a relaunch," he said.
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