Blocks stops with modular smartwatch due to lack of money

Blocks is discontinuing its modular smartwatch after it failed to secure additional funding for further development. The company has been working for several years to bring a smart watch with expansion functionality to the market.

The news was not widely publicized, but within the Kickstarter campaign, the company behind the modular smartwatch announced that it is discontinuing and the company will be shut down. Although the post is not viewable to non-participants in the project, one of the Reddit backers said they received an email confirming that Blocks is being liquidated. People who have supported the project will receive proof that they are creditors, although it is not clear how big the chance is that an amount will be paid.

That Blocks is ceasing comes as no surprise. The company had been struggling for some time to keep its head above water and sought additional funding for the development of its modular smartwatch. Initially, the smart watch should have been released in 2016, but that target was amply exceeded. At the end of 2016, the company said it was already close to bankruptcy.

Blocks announced the modular smartwatch in 2014 and appeared on Kickstarter a year later. Within an hour, the company met its funding target. Another year later, a prototype was demonstrated, in which the functionality of the watch could be expanded with links that were clicked on the strap. There were plans for an extra battery, heart rate monitor, GPS, NFC chip and a so-called adventure module, which measured altitude, air pressure and temperature. Modules for an extra SIM card, fingerprint reader, LED light and a programmable button were also considered.