F: ‘It’s an embarrassment’: the downfall of a $2 billion SoftBank-backed smart window company

FORBES reports:

View Inc. was supposed to be the greatest office enhancement since air conditioners: its smart windows could tint the windows of an entire building according to the position of the sun, promising to keep rooms cooler, and generate vast energy savings. With built-in, transparent circuit boards, the panes also served a dual purpose, transforming into giant computer or presentation screens. Investors like SoftBank and the sovereign wealth funds of New Zealand and Singapore poured in more than $2 billion.

“This is a product and a company that’s going to disrupt an entire industry,” CEO Rao Mulpuri told CNBC when View went public via a SPAC in 2020, adding that it was on track to generate $1 billion in revenue, “and start a movement toward smarter, healthier, more connected buildings.”

But such ambitions have been shattered amid fraud charges and a decrepit share price at the Milpitas, California-based company. The company reportedly laid off almost a quarter of its workforce earlier this year. And last week, View settled charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission that alleged its former CFO misstated the costs of replacing “many” defective windows by $28 million. (The agency did not impose penalties against the company because it self-reported the misconduct.)

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Elsewhere in the news:

– “AMEA Power signs $75 million funding round with SoftBank”

– “SoftBank-backed Eruditus taps PE firms, sovereign funds for fresh capital“