Adorii hopes it has found its perfect mate. The Seattle startup, which offered daily deals to engaged couples on everything from photographers to bridesmaid dresses to bachelor party getaways, will shut down after getting acquired by LA’s MyWedDeal.
The alliance is bittersweet for Adorii founder Matthew Matsudaira who laid off a chunk of the company’s 15-person staff earlier this month. “They have the cash to scale it, and I think it will be a good fit for us,” said Matsudaira, adding that the startup had a difficult time raising venture capital funding.
Adorii ran into a tough funding climate in part because other companies in the daily deal arena — namely Living Social and Groupon — have fallen on tough times. In an interview, Matsuidaira said it was just bad timing. Adorii had about 35,000 active users who had signed up for the daily deal service, with MyWedDeal taking over that email list. Some of the company’s intellectual property as it related to procuring products also is being acquired.
Matsudaira, who previously worked at Wishpot/Venpop, said he met the MyWedDeal team as he was raising money. He’s not sure what he’ll do next, though he’s working with MyWedDeal as a consultant.
“I think we accomplished a lot and I am really proud of what we did in such a short amount of time,” he said.
Adorii was the winner of GeekWire’s “Bootstrapper of the Year” award, and the sale indicates in part how challenging it is for young bootstrapped companies to make a go of it.
Previously on GeekWire: Startup Spotlight: Adorii unwraps a daily deal site for those about to tie the knot
