Here is a roundup of startup news and some of the prominent startups that announced shutting in Jan 2019 WarnerMedia shuts its technology investment arm – Expunging the legacy of TimeWarner, WarnerMedia has halted its investment in digital media and technology startup firms. This means an uncertain future for companies in the current funding round. Time Warner (the predecessor of WarnerMedia) was a significant investor in various digital media and technology companies. This era seems to be at an end with WarnerMedia media signalling that it will not be continuing with current investments. This is perhaps a reflection of the precarious nature of the digital publishing sector. Meal-delivery startup Munchery shuts down – The business of food and food delivery is tough. On-demand meal-delivery startup Munchery is joining the list of failed startups. Munchery made an announcement on its blog. AR headset company Meta shutting down after assets are sold – Augmented reality technology enables us to see things in virtual sphere, and lot of startups are trying to innovate in the space. Meta, maker of the Meta augmented reality headset, was incubated at Y Combinator and became the first to ship a set of “end-to-end” AR glasses. The AR startup that was has been sold to an unknown company after a months-long struggle to keep its doors open.

Shuttle startup Chariot will shut down less than 3 years after its $65m sale to Ford – Ford is undergoing a large scale corporate restructuring, that includes shutting its Chariot commuter shuttle service. After Chariot raised $3m in its first 2 years, it was acquired by Ford for a reported $65m in 2016 and added to Ford’s ‘Smart Mobility’ division. In 2016, Ford paid more than $65 million for shuttle-van startup Chariot

Gaming Spat Deals Blow to SoftBank-Funded Simulation Startup – Unity Technologies ApS, one of the largest game development platforms, has pulled the licenses that allow a fast-growing company backed by SoftBank Group Corp. to operate on its platform, causing one developer to shut down its game. Improbable, which received $502 million in funding led by SoftBank in 2017 and is currently valued at about $2 billion, said it was told Wednesday that Unity would no longer allow games built using its SpatialOS cloud platform to access its game engine — a platform for developers to build video games.

Woz’s job goes up in smoke after startup burns through $100 million – Primary Data, an enterprise storage startup which employed Steve Wozniak as its chief scientist, appears to have shut down. At time of writing, the company’s Twitter and Facebook appear to be down, although its webpage is still working. Its operating status is described as “closed.” Woz has been involved in a number of startups over the years after leaving full-time employment at Apple in the 1980s (he returned briefly in the 1990s to work as an advisor, before Steve Jobs ditched him in this role.) Confusingly, last year he was reported as being an adviser for a new augmented reality chap app launched by New England Patriots tight end Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski — although he later said this was not the case.

Canadian FoodTech startup Food Starter abruptly shuts down – Food Starter, a Toronto based startup incubator is shutting down. According to Canadian news agency, CBC, Food Starter sent out an email to clients alerting them that the final day for processing at the facility would be December 21, and that all tenants would need to move out of the plant as early as December 31.