According to “sources close to the company,” Pebble turned to a Silicon Valley bank in order to get a $5 million loan and $5 million line of credit after venture capital firms turned down its requests for more funding. Even with the company’s wildly successful Kickstarter campaign for the Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel, which raked in $18 million after fees, sources said the company had to turn to the bank “in order to stay afloat.”
The main reason behind Pebble’s alleged problem with maintaining its growth is related to the firm’s competition, which now includes a slew of Android Wear watches, as well as Apple’s own entry in the wearable market, the Apple Watch.
Even with these financial troubles, however, the firm’s employees are “cautiously optimistic” about Pebble’s prospects. “We’re a young company,” said one anonymous employee. “It’s been a remarkable journey thus far.”
With Pebble currently employing over 150 people, and still hiring, the firm is in a situation where bank financing is not uncommon for the purpose of managing growth. In addition, the wearable market is still a young one that looks to ripen in the next four years, if Cisco has anything to say on the matter. Even so, the indication that Pebble has already amassed significant debt, even with venture capitalists seemingly handing out money left and right, is a bit troubling.
Also consider how Pebble’s competition is now comprised of companies that dwarf it both in size and in name recognition. Whether Pebble is nimble enough to properly respond both to its competition and to its financial troubles is yet to be seen.
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