Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Wearable-sensor maker Rockley Photonics, which touted high-profile strategic partnerships with Apple and Medtronic, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week.
Why it matters: Having gone public via SPAC in 2021, Rockley is the latest domino to fall in what will likely be a continuing reckoning for the SPAC market.
Details: In the bankruptcy petition filed Monday, Rockley asked to be allowed to proceed as a “debtor in possession,” which would let the company to continue operating without interruption.
- Per the filing, Rockley has a reorganization strategy to eliminate debt and restructure its capital makeup, expected to add $35 million in cash to support its ongoing operations.
- Rockley’s stock was halted from further trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, and the exchange said it would start to fully delist the stock.
- Rockley does not intend to appeal the delisting, according to its 8-K.
Catch up fast: Rockley Photonics raised almost $168 million after a SPAC merger with SC Health.
- The deal included significant investment from Senvest Management and Medtronic.
Yes, but: The transaction was expected to deliver up to $323 million of gross proceeds to the company, including $173 million from SC Health.
- SC Health in fact provided $17.8 million.
How it works: The company's “spectrophotometer-on-a-chip” technology is used in wearable devices to continuously track various biomarkers.
- Rockley unveiled its "clinic on the wrist" system in 2021, which monitors health data and sends it to a smartphone app powered by Rockley's machine learning algorithms that further analyze the data.
Zoom in: Commercial versions of that device have yet to appear, all while Rockley racked up debt and its stock price slipped.