Company Folded After Shipping Only 600 Of 15,000 Aircraft Purchased

The crowdfunding site Kickstarter has hired an investigator to look into the failure of one of the most-funded projects in the site's history.

The Zano nano drone pulled in more than $3.5 million in pledges from over 12,000 backers, but the project has folded after shipping only 600 of the 15,000 tiny UAVs promised to backers who gave money to the project.

Now, Kickstarter has hired investigative journalist Mark Harris to look into why the project failed, though those to pledged money to the program are unlikely to get a refund, according to a report posted to Techspot. A post planned for the website Medium in January hopes to chronicle the Zano project from start to finish.

Harris also said that he will attempt to discover if the project's creators could have done anything to prevent it from collapsing, and look into Kickstarter's role in the project to see if it could have been a better partner to the project's creators or backers.

Zano promoted the UAV, which would fit in the palm of your hand, as an "the world's most sophisticated nano drone - aerial photo and HD video capture platform."

In an update posted on the Kickstarter website on November 25, Zano said that "During the Kickstarter campaign certain upgrades were suggested, agreed and then implemented to the design.

"These upgrades represented technical challenges which added to an already complicated project.

"Ultimately these upgrades coupled with delays caused by the creation of a bespoke and automatic testing rig had significant financial and timeline impacts upon the project."

"We would like to make a sincere apology for the understandable disappointment felt by all of those that have supported the project. We would like to reaffirm the significant efforts made by the board of directors and every employee of the company to try and bring this project to fruition and thank their unwavering commitment over the last 12 months," the company said.

(Image from Kickstarter campaign)

FMI: www.kickstarter.com/projects/torquing/zano-autonomous-intelligent-swarming-nano-drone/posts/1424636