After Raising Bulk of Money through Kickstarter, Torquing Group Denies Drone

To right this, they must make every reasonable effort to find another way of bringing the project to the best possible conclusion for backers.

Kickstarter projects have gained a reputation for overpromising and underdelivering.

After raising £2,335,119 ($3.6 million) from more than 12,000 backers, Torquing Group informed backers today (Nov. 18) that it is shutting down its project to manufacture a tiny drone called Zano that would’ve allowed people to take selfies from the air.

Torquing Group made a statement Wednesday, which was available only to backers.

A backers-only statement released by Torquing Group today reads: “Having explored all options known to us, and after seeking professional advice, we have made the hard decision to pursue a creditors’ voluntary liquidation”, the message states.

There were a few signs of trouble, beyond the technological shortcomings – the summer shipping date for the 0 drone came and went; the CEO resigned in early November, citing health issues and “irreconcilable differences”.

A few of Zano’s backers are furious, calling the project an “absolute fraud”, “scam”, and “failure”. He has launched a petition on change.org to demand full refunds from Torquing, according to Newsweek. But as recently as October, the company wrote on its Kickstarter page, “We now feel we have all of the internal and external processes in place for us to successfully dispatch 200 ZANO’s per day“.

Torquing ended the Kickstarter campaign for its handheld drone in January 2015. Moreover, Kickstarter representatives say there can not guarantee for a project to work out and they try to educate the backers about the risk of losing their investment, because they are not necessarily buying that certain product, but investing in its manufacturing.

‘If they are unable to satisfy the terms of this agreement, they may be subject to legal action by backers’.

Greenberg said that he has been a huge fan of Kickstarter, but after this bad experience he’s not 100% sure whether he would pledge any more money.