Framework Raises $18M In New Funding, More Collaborations Coming With Cooler Master

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Framework Raises $18M In New Funding, More Collaborations Coming With Cooler Master

The folks behind the very popular Framework upgradeable/modular laptops announced today $18M in new funding and a few other interesting details...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Framework-More-Funding

[sophisticles]

From the blog:

There is one group of people who are more strategically important than any other: the Framework community. The third most common question we’ve gotten since starting Framework (after “AMD when?” and “Upgradeable graphics when?”) is “Can I invest in Framework?”. The answer is finally… possibly. In addition to the $17M of funds we’ve raised from traditional investors, we’re raising a $1M community round to enable 100 of you to invest $10,000 each in Framework. Investing in startups is approximately the riskiest place imaginable to put your money, and statistically, the most likely outcome for any individual early-stage startup investment is for it to become worthless. With that in mind, for both moral and regulatory reasons, we’re limiting participation to individuals and entities that meet the SEC’s Accredited Investor qualifications. This also allows us to publicly share the existence of this fundraising under the SEC’s 506(c) regulations. If you qualify as an Accredited Investor, believe in our mission and strategy, and are interested in investing in this round, you can get more details and apply here.

This is a company in serious financial trouble that is bleeding cash.

They still consider themselves a startup, they might even be pre-revenue.

I would not invest a dime in these people, I don't think there is any demand for their product, or more accurately, enough of a demand to actually build a business around.

The only thing that lends credibility to this is Cooler Master participating but just be some pocket change that they invest for tax purposes.

Everything else about this says belly up inside of one year, with investors left holding the bag.

Definition of accredited investor:

https://www.sec.gov/education/capitalraising/building-blocks/accredited-investor

[Mitch]

From the blog:



This is a company in serious financial trouble that is bleeding cash.

They still consider themselves a startup, they might even be pre-revenue.

I would not invest a dime in these people, I don't think there is any demand for their product, or more accurately, enough of a demand to actually build a business around.

The only thing that lends credibility to this is Cooler Master participating but just be some pocket change that they invest for tax purposes.

Everything else about this says belly up inside of one year, with investors left holding the bag.

Definition of accredited investor:

https://www.sec.gov/education/capita...dited-investor

Investment in a company isn't a sign of cash trouble. They may have more ambitions and hunger for things than they can comfortably afford to do, and they may also find that they're confident in what they're doing enough to get more buy-in. Perhaps they want to scale up or offer a Steam-deck alternative or a phone. Any of these options are very big endeavors.

Framework is being transparent that start-ups and smaller businesses are riskier than something like Intel or Apple, who are unlikely to experience an enormous change in worth (e.g. a 1/6 change or 6X change in price). And if we're looking at Framework historically, transparency has been a general theme.

It's up to the investor to take that risk. The smaller businesses are ALWAYS riskier. They usually close up shop much faster and with less / no warning, so your investments fizzle out before you can soften the hit. They also have opportunities to gain much more growth (by percentage) than bigger businesses, multiplying their worth.

So if I put $100 into Intel, it's more likely to turn into $80 or $140, very slowly, than becoming $10, $0, or $1,000, which may happen much more rapidly for a smaller business. An early tech startup is much more likely to go $0, but it could leap even at high as $2,000 depending on when I invested.

Framework has been around the block. They seem to sell their bread winning inventory well in advance of production, and they've been operating for some time, so they're probably much less risky than other startups that are still in the proof-of-concept stages. They also seem to have a strong handle on reselling and refurbishing.

[guspitts]

From the blog:



This is a company in serious financial trouble that is bleeding cash.

They still consider themselves a startup, they might even be pre-revenue.

I would not invest a dime in these people, I don't think there is any demand for their product, or more accurately, enough of a demand to actually build a business around.

The only thing that lends credibility to this is Cooler Master participating but just be some pocket change that they invest for tax purposes.

Everything else about this says belly up inside of one year, with investors left holding the bag.

Definition of accredited investor:

https://www.sec.gov/education/capita...dited-investor

I don't have a crystal ball and I can't predict the future of a company any more than any one else.

But I disagree with that assessment and I hope Framework succeeds. I do think there is a market for this (that's what my next laptop will be for example, when that time comes) and a startup or young company looking for extra investments is not necessarily a sign of failure.

More than Framework the company, I cheer for the creation of an open standard for laptops and laptop parts (kind of what AT did to the PC market), with multiple players in the space. And if Framework manages to create that standard and keep their open attitude, then Framework can make it out big (which would be well deserved).

So good luck to them.

[schmidtbag]

sophisticles Keep in mind, Framework already has products on the market. They're listening to criticisms, they're hiring more people, and I don't get the impression they're falling into serious debt. As far as I understand, they're just trying to expand at this point. That's the sign of healthy growth, especially if they're attracting many investors.

[bachchain]

I don't think there is any demand for their product, or more accurately, enough of a demand to actually build a business around.

Isn't this the same company that sold through half a year's worth of production capacity within one day of accepting orders?

[guiaiolfi]

sophisticles must be a CEO of a very successful company we don't know about. Because he is all over the place giving advice and criticism of how all companies should do business.

[L_A_G]

This is a company in serious financial trouble that is bleeding cash.

If you're at all familiar with law relating to a companies' publicly stated financials you'll know write these things with all manner of doom and gloom. Basically every potential business risk you can imagine, almost no matter how unlikely. Once saw someone so peeved off by how strict this is they wrote the risk of a zombie apocalypse into their stated financials.

But seriously, the fact that they're looking at investors in the $10.000 class when they've pre-sold 3 months of production on their latest model does raise some questions. How low volume are they because that kind of demand should draw in far larger investors like bees to honey. Maybe I should start looking into their financials and pulling business records because I do happen to have that kind of money lying around. Maybe I invest instead of making that extra amortization on my mortgage?

Maybe that's just for some non-voting absolute bottom rung shares?

[intelfx]

sophisticles must be a CEO of a very successful company we don't know about. Because he is all over the place giving advice and criticism of how all companies should do business.

Nah, not all companies. Just free software ones.

[sophisticles]

Isn't this the same company that sold through half a year's worth of production capacity within one day of accepting orders?

How many is that in actual numbers?

Reminds me of that episode of The Office when Pam becomes a sales person and her husband gives her a prize or something similar, the other sales people complain. So he tells them that she doubled her sales in the past month and that's why she's getting it.

One of the sales people asks sarcastically "what, from 2 to 4?"

And it cuts to Pam looking at the camera and saying "Yup".

Telling me they sold they sold out of 6 months' capacity in one day is telling me nothing.

How much capacity do they have and what was the profit on that revenue?