October 2, 2020
Dear Customers,
We recognize PicoBrew left you with many unanswered questions. We want to give you this update that we hope will provide some answers.
As you probably know, PicoBrew’s mission over the past 10 years was to revolutionize the homebrewing and beverage space. The company wouldn’t be anything without customers and loyal fans like yourself. We are fans too. The mission has always been about allowing PicoBrew’s users to create high quality, customized beverages with precision, ease and repeatability.
Since July 2018, PicoBrew’s primary source of funding for daily operations came from loans from PB Funding Group, LLC, a group who shared in everyone’s passion and believed in keeping the lights on for our customers. Unfortunately, PicoBrew was unable to come up with a viable operating structure that didn’t require significant additional operating capital that ultimately could not be found.
With all options exhausted, PicoBrew had no choice but to enter into Washington State receivership on February 7, 2020. That process officially concluded on May 8, 2020.
During the receivership process, the receiver reached out to every possible buyer they could find who could potentially be interested, yet with the ongoing pandemic adding layers of complexity, no buyer emerged in time to make a bid.
With PB Funding Group as the only secured lender, and ultimately the only bidder, PicoBrew’s assets became the property of PB Funding Group, LLC. Through the receivership process, PB Funding Group, LLC did not assume any of PicoBrew’s liabilities. It only receives what assets remain.
Efforts to find the right buyer, licensee, or partner are actively underway, however all operations had to be terminated to stop the losses. Many of the company’s assets were liquidated to arrest the massive warehousing and operational costs.
Conversations are ongoing with those interested in all or parts of the company, but nothing has been decided yet. We continue to search for buyers who are interested in some or all of the technology either in the form of a sale or potential licensing of the underlying technology.
What does this mean for you?
While we don’t have all the answers yet, on a day-to-day basis you can expect our servers to remain online for the foreseeable future. This means you can continue using your devices and our services as normal. We are unable to guarantee this indefinitely, but contingencies are being evaluated to sustain the usefulness of all devices.
We will be shutting down the forum at some point because of a lack of activity. We are watching how it’s used and want to leave it alone until it’s of no further use.
All options are under consideration. We will share additional details as events unfold.
