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Lily was a California-based drone brand that shut down after filing for bankruptcy in 2017.[1][2][3] It is owned by Mota Group, Inc. and headquartered in San Jose, California.

History

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Lily Robotics was founded in 2013 in Berkeley, California by UC Berkeley alums Antoine Balaresque and Henry Bradlow, with the goal of designing and manufacturing a quadcopter camera drone. Both founders worked together at the UC Berkeley Robotics Laboratory.[4]

The idea for Lily's first product, the Lily Camera, came in the summer of 2013 after Balaresque returned from a family trip to Yosemite National Park and noticed that his mother was missing from all of the photos because she was behind the camera.[4]

The founders secured a seed round[5] in spring 2014 led by Shana Fisher and SV Angel, and in 2015 the company expanded to employ approximately 50 individuals.[citation needed]

In May 2015, the company announced the Lily Camera, an autonomous flying camera that combined GPS and computer vision technology to record stills and video of users autonomously via a wearable tracking device.[4] The company received approximately 60 thousand pre-orders for the device,[6] collecting over $34 million in pre-sale revenue.[7][8] International Business Times compared the new startup to the Zano, a similar camera-drone project which was still in development at the time, but later failed and closed down.[9][10]

In December 2015, Lily reportedly closed[11] a Series A funding round of $14 million, led by Spark Capital.[12] Other notable Lily investors were the Stanford StartX fund, the DJ Steve Aoki and the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana.[13] The founders announced that the original February 2016 release date for pre-order customers would be delayed until summer 2016.[14][15][16]

Closure, lawsuit, bankruptcy, and asset-acquisition

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On January 12, 2017, around 4AM UTC, Lily sent an email to all their customers notifying them that the camera could not be produced and they would receive a refund. The company closed owing $34 million.[3]

On the same day, the District Attorney of San Francisco filed a lawsuit against Lily alleging that the startup intentionally deceived customers. According to the lawsuit, Lily faked demonstration videos using products from other manufacturers.[17][18] In late January 2017, the San Francisco police, seeking evidence for criminal charges related to the company's failure, conducted a raid of the Lily Robotics offices.[19]

On February 27, 2017, Lily Robotics filed a voluntary petition for relief under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The company also issued a notice to customers stating: "We will try to refund all of our customers' pre-order payments during the bankruptcy. However, we need Bankruptcy Court approval of a refund process to make those payments. To begin the process, the Company filed a motion on March 13, 2017 asking the Bankruptcy Court to approve the refund process."[20]

On May 30, 2017, Mota Group Inc. acquired assets of Lily and its brand. The company, already managing other brands and drone lines, introduced Lily Next-Gen™ with superior 2017 technology based on the original Lily approach of simplicity and market.[21]

The Lily Camera

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Lily's original flagship product, the Lily Camera, was a quadcopter drone designed to be used as a self-propelled camera. The device has a waterproof rating of IP67. It is built out of black polycarbonate and brushed aluminum, and weighs approximately 2.8 pounds (1.3 kg). The Lily Camera contains 7 types of sensors: an accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, a magnetometer, a Barometer, GPS, a front-facing camera, and a bottom-facing camera.[22] The camera captures video with 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second, and 720p at 120 frames per second.[23]

Like the Lily Camera, the wearable tracker has a waterproof rating of IP67. The tracker contains 5 sensors: an accelerometer, a barometer, GPS, a microphone, and a small vibration motor.[citation needed]

Lily Next-Gen™ included the same type of form factor but with 4K camera, a standalone remote and up to 36 minutes of flying time with combined battery.

See also

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  • Zano (drone) - a similar project to create a quadcopter drone with a camera, which failed under similar circumstances

References

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  1. ^ Rizzo, Lillian (February 27, 2017). "Lily Robotics Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  2. ^ Matthews, Kayla (February 12, 2017). "What went seriously wrong with Lily Robotics". VentureBeat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Drone company Lily shuts down owing $34m". BBC News. January 12, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c Tilley, Aaron (May 12, 2015). "Lily Is A Self-Flying Drone That Follows You Around And Films You". Forbes. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  5. ^ "About - Lily". Lily. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  6. ^ Buhr, Sarah (January 8, 2016). "Lily, A Camera Drone That Automatically Follows You, Pulls In A Mountainous $34 Million In Pre-orders". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  7. ^ Primack, Dan (January 7, 2016). "'Flying Camera' Maker Lily Hits Major Sales Milestone". Fortune. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  8. ^ Kulwin, Noah (January 7, 2016). "Self-Flying Lily Camera Has Booked $34 Million in Pre-Sales in Last Eight Months". Recode. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  9. ^ Russon, Mary-Ann (May 13, 2015). "Meet Lily, a $499 selfie drone that follows you around after being tossed into the air". International Business Times. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  10. ^ Cellan-Jones, Rory (January 20, 2016). "Zano: The rise and fall of Kickstarter's mini-drone". BBC News. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  11. ^ Crook, Jordan (December 18, 2015). "Lily Flying Camera Closes $14M In Funding, Delays Shipping Until Summer 2016". TechCrunch. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  12. ^ Schubarth, Cromwell (December 18, 2015). "Lily Robotics raises $14M but won't ship flying cameras until next summer". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  13. ^ Wingfield, Nick (December 17, 2015). "Drone Maker Lily Announces a Product Delay and New Funding". The New York Times. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  14. ^ Mortimer, Gary (December 18, 2015). "Lily drone delays". sUASNews.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  15. ^ Mortimer, Gary (July 26, 2016). "Lily Drone, it's a cruel cruel summer". sUASNews.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  16. ^ "Shipping and Fundraising Update - Lily". Lily. Archived from the original on January 28, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  17. ^ Glaser, April (January 16, 2017). "What happened to the Lily camera drone?". Recode. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  18. ^ Riley McDermick (January 13, 2017). "S.F. drone maker Lily Robotics sued by district attorney after failing to deliver on $34 million in preorders". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
  19. ^ Mcdermid, Riley. "Cops raid San Francisco dronemaker Lily Robotics". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  20. ^ Mortimer, Gary (March 20, 2017). "Lily Drone Bankruptcy claim your cash - sUAS News - The Business of Drones". sUAS News - The Business of Drones. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  21. ^ Grigonis, Hillary K. (September 5, 2017). "The Lily Next-Gen Camera Drone Is Both An Upgrade and Downgrade". Digital Trends. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  22. ^ Findling, Deborah (May 21, 2015). "Lily: the world's first throw-and-shoot camera". CNBC. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  23. ^ Villas_Boas, Antonio. "This amazing new drone camera follows you around shooting stunning HD footage". Business Insider. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
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