North Wearables Looks for a Buyer While Cash Is Running Out

(Bloomberg) -- North, the Canadian maker of augmented-reality wearables that counts Intel Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. as investors, is looking for a buyer while it runs low on cash, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company, which was previously known as Thalmic Labs, has been meeting with potential buyers since last summer, according to one of the people, who asked not to be named because the meetings are private. Now the sales process is ramping up, with supply chain shocks from the coronavirus outbreak intensifying the urgency, the people said.

North didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which is advising the company, declined to comment.

It’s a difficult time to be making experimental hardware. The business requires heavy investment in research and development and materials. The thin profit margins have been further stressed by tariffs in the trade war with China and factory closures as the virus spread. Magic Leap, a much-hyped virtual reality company based in Florida, is seeking a buyer for similar reasons, Bloomberg reported last week.

North was founded in 2012 and said it has raised about $170 million, including from Intel, Amazon and Fidelity Investments Canada, because of its lofty promises to develop futuristic augmented-reality glasses. The glasses display information in a floating hologram that only the wearer can see and respond to using a voice service like Amazon Alexa. The company said on its website that it’s no longer accepting orders.

North, which inspired a December CNET headline, “In 2020, Smart Glasses May Start Looking Totally Normal,” has sold only a few thousand units, and has enough cash to last only until July, one of the people said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.