BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — Bia Sport, which marketed a women's specific GPS sports watch, is shutting down, the company has announced on its website.
The company got started by raising more than $400,000 on Kickstarter.com in 2012 and delivered its first watches in June 2014. Some of the watch functions that rely on a cellular connection, including a live tracking feature and a safety alert, will cease working after April 3. Other GPS functions will continue to work.
The company said it is making arrangements for users to transfer their watch data from the Bia website to other workout sites after the Bia site shuts down in May.
Co-founder Cheryl Kellond said "the entire team" at Bia had been working without pay since last summer.
"(B)usiness is like sports, sometimes no matter how diligently and smart you train, no matter how experienced and prepared you are, no matter how good your cheer squad is, you DNF. When that happens it’s not just the time and the money you invested in the race that causes it to hurt, it’s the sacrifices those around you have made to support you. The feeling that you have let them down stings the most. The irony is that the sheer act of attempting something hard enough that you could fail usually is exactly what inspires those around you. To be brave enough to push your limits, to be brave enough risk failure, is a rare thing," Kellond wrote in a statement posted on Bia's website last week.
