// HALL OF FLAME · STARTUP AUTOPSY

Founded	2013
Closed	2017
Country	USA
Sector	Hardware
Total raised	$50M (Breyer Capital, Qualcomm Ventures)
Collapse type	Sudden Collapse
Founder	Noah Kraft

Doppler Labs

"Raised $50M for smart earbuds that could filter ambient sound in real-time. Beautiful hardware. No scalable business model."

$50M

RAISED

—

EMPLOYEES

MONTHS

unit economicsSudden Collapse

Unexpected shutdown within weeks of a trigger

// Fatal mistake: Unit Economics

Key Events Timeline

2013-01

FOUNDING

Doppler Labs founded

2015-06

DOWN ROUND

Down round or bridge financing

2017-01

PRODUCT LAUNCH

HERE One launches commercially at $279 — wireless earbuds with real-time environmental audio processing. Reviewers praise the technology: the ability to mute crowd noise, enhance voices in noisy environments, and process live audio in milliseconds. However, unit sales at launch are limited. The consumer hardware market at $279 requires significant marketing spend and retail distribution to reach breakeven volume.

2017-06

SHUTDOWN

Sudden Collapse: Doppler Labs ceases operations

2017-10

SHUTDOWN

October 2017: Doppler Labs announces it is shutting down. The company could not secure additional financing to scale manufacturing, marketing, and distribution to the level required for consumer hardware profitability. Approximately 69 employees laid off. HERE One discontinued. The app supporting the hardware ceases development. The hardware innovations — real-time audio filtering, spatial audio processing — are not commercialized at scale.

🔥 Hall of Flame 50%🏆 Hall of Fame 45%

Doppler Labs built "Here One" — wireless earbuds with live noise filtering, allowing users to tune their real-world audio environment.

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More Hardware →More from USA →More unit economics failures →Raised: $50M (Breyer Capital, Qualcomm Ventures)

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// THE HARDWARE GRAVEYARD DOESN'T END HERE

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