Blame Apple and greed. How Brydge, the creator of the once best iPad keyboards, went bankrupt

Resource 9to5Mac published an article that talked about the bankruptcy of the popular manufacturer of keyboards for the iPad, Brydge.

In January of this year, Brydge opened pre-orders for a new version of its ProDock, a Thunderbolt-enabled docking accessory. The company began selling it after acquiring HengeDocks in 2019.

According to interviewed former employees, the acquisition is smooth. HengeDock CEO and founder Matthew Vroom left the company in November 2019, shortly after the closing was completed.

After the product line, Brydge grew a lot, and it went beyond the Apple-inspired keyboards for the iPad, which led to the company’s exodus of success. A growing sense of optimism spread within the company.

Unlike the sources, the Brydge stood out with higher-quality aluminum materials, hinges, and a laptop-style form factor and backlighting. It was the closest analogue to the Apple Smart Keyboard Folio.

What was particularly bad for the company was that Apple worked closely with Logitech. When the Cupertinos introduced iPadOS 13.4 with trackpad support, Logitech introduced its own play case with trackpad integration for the iPad and iPad Air with full multi-touch trackpad functionality.

The company does not even claim that Apple is working on something similar. However, Cupertino quickly contacted developers and French frameworks to create accessories. Nevertheless, Apple kept many of its tools out of Brydge’s reach. According to sources, Apple has refused Brydge any debugging tools or additional information.

At the same time, Brydge already had its own Pro + keyboard at that time with its own trackpad, which worked through the function Universal access. It received mixed and often negative reviews for the trackpad part, but that didn’t stop them. They continue to promote this line.

In 2021, developers purchased a regular trackpad-enabled keyboard from Apple, a year after the announcement of the Magic Keyboard. However, actively promote the ongoing version of Pro+, which accounts for the majority of the startup’s revenue. And over the years, the situation has changed only to the undesirable side.

Nicholas Smith

CEO Nicholas Smith did a big project for the development of the company’s growth. He poured excessive money into mass expansion, in particular distribution. Because of this decision, some of the longtime employees left the company. They have not been found with this design.

Since August 2021, Smith has hired more than 10 managers in various top-level positions within six months, according to former employees. And since 2022, things have gone downhill for the startup.

In addition, Bridge has never had a CFO. Rather, it was from 2020 to 2021, but, as employees note, it did not have the necessary experience. As soon as he left the team, all responsibility was transferred to the local accountant.

The heads did not want to hire professionals, deciding to save on it. The case with this is not revealed to almost anyone the reliable financial position of the company. This information was kept strictly confidential.

The company did not have a stable cash flow, so it constantly hoped for early shipments from China, paying $15 per item. The main goal was constantly growing income.

At the same time, the company suppressed the larger market player for a long time. But one deal after another failed at the last moment. So, Brydge could be bought out at Razer in 2022, but the game fell apart again at the last game.

Then the founders also turned to Targus, but even there they especially broke down at the last moment. According to employees, there is one day left until the end of the contract. Apple’s main supplier, Foxconn, was also among those interested in 2018. You already know.

As a result, the company has a high turnover of staff. Due to economic problems, it was decided lay off 20% of employees.

By the end of 2022, Brydge released SP Max+, a new case for the Microsoft Surface Pro. It was the last major launch. Smith poured his “final money” into marketing by getting people involved in his public relations campaign. But when it came to wages, the founder had no money. Danger court to get paid.

In the end, in 2023, he was literally evicted from his office. Many employees still have not received their salaries for the 4-6 weeks worked. After the delay, the partners have delays. All inventory stocks, like employees, were taken away by banks and accumulated.

Brydge has also failed to fulfill the vast majority of ProDock pre-orders it announced in January. The startup is officially closed and an external buyout has been announced. [9to5]