The Carrot Rewards app, which allowed users to earn rewards through completing daily step challenges, has unexpectedly shut down today.
The app no longer works, aside from a landing page detailing the shut down, after the company ran out of money. An email was also sent out to its over 1 million users as well:
Just over four years ago, we came up with a beautiful idea on how to inspire many more Canadians to live healthier lives. Since then, a small but mighty team has worked tirelessly to bring that dream to life. It worked incredibly well — over a million Canadians are now living better and healthier each day because of Carrot! OVER ONE MILLION BETTER LIVES (let that sink in for a moment).
And that’s why it breaks our hearts to be saying farewell to you as we have closed down the Carrot Rewards app today. Just like so many other young start-up ventures, our beautiful Carrot needed investment funding to keep running — and, even though we gave it our all, our funds eventually ran out and we could no longer be in business.
In regards to your data and privacy, the Carrot Rewards team writes, “Your privacy has always been of the utmost importance to us at Carrot Rewards. Rest assured that we will continue to be compliant with The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).”
Any points you’ve earned are yours to keep, says Carrot Rewards.
This shut down hurts recent customers who jumped on the annual or monthly paid subscription model, offering more rewards.
The Carrot Rewards CEO told The Globe and Mail it is filing for bankruptcy and owes money to companies such as the SCENE program from Cineplex:
As the promise of national reach crumbled, investors closed their vaults, CEO Andreas Souvaliotis said in an interview Monday. Carrot planned to notify users of its shutdown over e-mail late Wednesday. The company is filing for bankruptcy to pay off suppliers, such as Cineplex’s Scene program, to which it owes money for points, Mr. Souvaliotis said.
Carrot Rewards also failed to find a buyer after using Ernst & Young three months ago, despite lowering valuations, receiving no interest at all.
…more to follow
