What's Wrong With Capitalism: A Startup Can Raise $17 Million For a Tea Infuser
by John Lawrence
Why is it that a startup can raise millions for some worthless product, but there is no money to provide clean water in either Flint, Michigan or other parts of the world. Teforia, a company that raised $17 million to make a tea infuser which sold for $1499. eventually went out of business when it couldn't raise even more millions of venture capital. Juicero raised $120 million in venture capital to make a juicer which sold for $700. The market for high end gadgets is endless even though some of them aren't able to make a go of it. The question is why is this much money available for such startups when people are starving to death in Yemen and elsewhere. The ones starving are usually children.
There is no limit to the money available for such overwrought foolishness as $1499. tea infusers while hundreds of thousands if not millions worldwide in the US and over the world are homeless. What gives certain people access to millions of dollars while others beg for "spare change"?
From the Guardian:
Juicero, a Silicon Valley juicer startup that raised $120m from investors and was widely ridiculed after the $400 machines were revealed to be the equivalent of two hands squeezing a juice box, is shutting down.
The death of Juicero, announced on Friday, is the latest case of a San Francisco tech startup collapsing after raising substantial funds under the guise of innovation and disruption, but failing to build a profitable business.
Juicero offered pre-sold packets of diced fruits and vegetables that users plugged into the $400 machines, which then transformed the contents into juice. The company was roundly mocked in April when Bloomberg News reported that users could easily squeeze the packets with their hands and turn the contents into juice at a faster rate than the expensive cold-press juicer machine.
The company’s founder, Doug Evans, who compared himself to Steve Jobs, had previously bragged that the juice press wielded four tons of force, and in the face of embarrassing videos of the squeezing by hand, the company noted that the machines were connected to the internet and could ensure users don’t make juice with packets that have expired. The packets, however, had expiration dates written on them.
Juicero, launched 16 months ago, announced on its website Friday that it had decided to immediately suspend the sale of the machines and produce packs after it “became clear that creating an effective manufacturing and distribution system for a nationwide customer base requires infrastructure that we cannot achieve on our own as a standalone business”.
Capitalism is only useful for developing and selling products which may or may not be useful or a genuine contribution to society. As long as the product makes money, Capitalism applauds it even if it is of dubious social value.
