Hubbry Logo
ClinkleClinkleMain
Open search
Clinkle
Community hub
Clinkle
logo
7 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Clinkle
Clinkle
Clinkle
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Clinkle was a mobile payments company founded by Lucas Duplan in 2012. The company shut down in 2016.

Key Information

History

[edit]

Clinkle was founded in 2011 by Lucas Duplan, then a computer science student at Stanford University.[5] Duplan had decided to work on mobile payments during a study abroad program in London after his freshman year.[6] Upon returning to Stanford, Duplan received guidance from Mehran Sahami, a professor who taught the university's introductory programming methodology class.[7] Clinkle rented a house in Palo Alto, California, using money from Duplan's parents and a summer program through Highland Capital Partners.[8][9] With approximately a dozen students building the app, it ran a beta test at Stanford in which testers could send payments to each other.[6]

Through VMware co-founder Diane Greene, Duplan met Accel partner Jim Breyer, who became interested in the company after discussing it with Stanford professors and graduate students.[5] Breyer became an investor following his first meeting and product demonstration with Duplan and participated in a round of funding for the company.[10] By June 2013, Clinkle had raised $25 million from a broad range of investors, including Greene, Andreessen Horowitz, Intel Capital, Intuit, Peter Thiel, Owen Van Natta, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.[11][12][13][14][15][16] The funding amounted to the largest seed round in Silicon Valley.[17] Shortly after, Duplan moved the 50-person company from Mountain View to San Francisco.[18]

By the end of 2013, they had raised $25 million.[19]

In October 2013, former Netflix chief financial officer Barry McCarthy became Clinkle's chief operating officer,[20] and two more former Netflix executives later joined as vice presidents.[21] In December 2013, the company laid off a quarter of its employees.[22] McCarthy left Clinkle in March 2014, after less than 5 months at the company.[23] The product launched to college students on September 24, 2014.[24]

In November 2014 Lucas Duplan was listed on Forbes 30 Under 30,[25] a pick the publication regretted nine years later, placing Duplan on its Hall of Shame, featuring ten picks it wished it could take back.[26][27]

In 2015, seven core employees quit and the remaining team was believed to be mostly consultants providing support and no more than 12, down from 70 several years ago.[28] Forbes reported in January 2016 that investors were losing patience with the lack of any market product and were requesting a return of funds.[29]

In January 2016, a photo was leaked of CEO Duplan and Richard Branson burning wads of fake $100 bills to celebrate the announcement that Branson had invested in the company and would become an advisor to Duplan. Forbes reported that the purpose of the stunt was to celebrate the idea of paper money becoming "obsolete".[29]

As of May 2016, the company had shut down.[30]

Product

[edit]

Clinkle released an app for download on Google Play and the iTunes Store. Clinkle first launched on college campuses and targeted merchants near college campuses.[5][31][32] Clinkle announced on September 26, 2013, that after two months of opening their college waitlists, over 100,000 students had signed up despite no clear product description.[33][34] Until September 2014, the app had very limited functionality and only allowed users to join a waitlist with a launch date of that month and year.[35]

Before launching, the company had released limited information about its product, despite significant press coverage.[citation needed] The product was intended to include a mobile app that served as an online wallet.[35] Wallets would be linked to existing credit cards and bank accounts.[5] A June 2013 report by TechCrunch stated that the app was going to use high-frequency sound to send payments between devices; however, the section was shortly retracted.[7] Clinkle confirmed that the product would not require near field communication, a wireless technology used by Google Wallet and Apple Pay.[5] Clinkle stated that the product would also provide merchants with information about their customers for the purpose of targeted sales promotions.[9]

Despite its initial launch as an alternative payments processing system, it lost its technological edge to new products like Venmo, a peer-to-peer payments app, and later Apple Pay, which achieved what the company had originally set out to do.[29] The company decided to pivot, and launched to the public on September 24, 2014, a new flagship downloadable application aimed at college students.[24]

The launch debuted a Clinkle Card that allowed users to earn rewards for paying at stores and online. After every seventh payment, Clinkle card users were awarded a "Treat" to send to a friend, which had a chance of earning the recipient a free purchase.[36]

References

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Clinkle

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Clinkle was an American startup founded in 2011 by Lucas Duplan, a student, that sought to enable mobile payments through innovative high-frequency sound technology but ultimately failed to launch a viable product and shut down in 2016 after significant internal turmoil and investor dissatisfaction. The company emerged from a Stanford Technology Entrepreneurship class where Duplan, then 19, developed the initial concept for a payments that would allow without needing NFC chips or connectivity, instead using ultrasonic audio signals transmitted via smartphones. This technology, dubbed Aerolink, was intended to facilitate seamless, secure transfers in environments like noisy venues or areas with poor signal, positioning Clinkle as a potential disruptor to established players like and Square. However, the ambitious vision led to prolonged development delays, with no public until 2014, by which time competitors had advanced with simpler solutions. Clinkle's rapid rise in the venture capital world was marked by a record-breaking $25 million seed round announced in June 2013, the largest such funding at the time in history, backed by prominent investors including , , , , and later , who joined as an advisor after investing an undisclosed amount in September 2013. The funding, structured as an uncapped convertible note, attracted over 18 backers and valued the stealth-mode startup highly, fueling hype around Duplan as a young prodigy often compared to . At its peak, Clinkle employed around 70 people in and expanded into a prepaid with rewards, rebranded as "Treats," which offered lottery-style cashback to users at select colleges. Revenue was planned through interchange fees on transactions, but adoption remained limited. Despite the early promise, Clinkle faced mounting challenges from 2014 onward, including executive departures, layoffs that reduced headcount to about 30 by early 2015, and a toxic internal culture attributed to Duplan's perfectionism and . A pivotal low point came in May 2015 when seven employees resigned en masse in protest, publicly criticizing the CEO and accelerating the company's downward spiral. The original sound-based technology was abandoned by late 2013 in favor of more conventional features, but even these pivots failed to gain traction amid the rise of and other streamlined alternatives. By late 2015, Clinkle attempted another shift to an SDK for app-based rewards referrals, taking a 30% cut on payouts, but investor confidence eroded as some demanded refunds for their stakes. The company effectively ceased operations in 2016, leaving behind a of hype-driven funding, product-market misalignment, and the perils of unstructured "party rounds" in startup financing.

Founding

Origins and Lucas Duplan

Lucas Duplan, a 19-year-old student at , founded Clinkle in late 2011 after becoming frustrated with the limitations of existing options during a study abroad trip to , where, upon arriving hungry, he struggled with the new currency while trying to buy lunch. Growing up in , as the son of Croatian immigrants, Duplan had accelerated through his undergraduate studies, completing a in three years, and observed gaps in seamless, hardware-free transactions in everyday scenarios like transfers and merchant purchases. The company was incorporated as part of Stanford's StartX accelerator program, where Duplan first publicly presented Clinkle at the program's Demo Day on September 8, 2011, positioning it as a mobile payments startup designed to bypass the need for NFC hardware or dongles. This early involvement highlighted Clinkle's deep ties to Stanford's entrepreneurial ecosystem, though the full team assembly expanded on these connections later. Duplan's initial prototype focused on enabling secure transactions directly through smartphones, drawing inspiration from the inefficiencies he saw in competitors like Square and . Clinkle's core vision centered on leveraging smartphone audio signals for frictionless payments, allowing users to send or complete purchases without additional devices, aiming to simplify both and merchant interactions in a post-cash world. The startup operated in for over a year, refining this hardware-free approach to address the challenges Duplan identified in daily life. It emerged from stealth in April 2013, marking the company's official public debut with early announcements of its innovative sound-based system.

Early Team and Stanford Ties

Clinkle's early team was predominantly composed of young engineers and designers drawn from 's talent pool. Beyond founder Lucas Duplan, the core group included classmates Frank Li and Jason Riggs, who served as co-founders and contributed to the initial technical development of the mobile payments prototype. The team quickly expanded to more than a dozen members, primarily Stanford undergraduates and recent graduates recruited during a yearlong entrepreneurship course led by Professor Charles Eesley, fostering a collaborative environment centered on innovative problem-solving. The company's deep ties to Stanford were evident from its inception, as Duplan leveraged the university's ecosystem, including its entrepreneurship programs and networks, to build the initial roster. , Stanford's nonprofit , played a pivotal role by providing access to mentors, resources, and a supportive of affiliated entrepreneurs, which helped shape the team's fast-paced culture. Recruitment emphasized tech-savvy individuals from and university circles, with Duplan drawing on personal connections to assemble a group focused on rapid iteration and bold ideas. A key milestone in establishing these connections was Clinkle's participation in StartX's Demo Day on September 8, 2011, where Duplan publicly introduced the company for the first time, albeit in as a mobile payments venture. This event generated early buzz among Stanford affiliates and observers, highlighting the team's potential and solidifying its institutional roots.

Funding

Seed Round

Clinkle's seed funding round closed in 2013, raising a total of $30.5 million as revealed in SEC filings. The round began with an initial commitment of $25 million announced publicly, followed by additional tranches from investors that brought the overall amount to the final figure. This structure, primarily using convertible notes in what became known as a "party round" with contributions from numerous high-profile backers, reflected the high interest in the startup's potential to disrupt mobile payments, with the funding secured primarily in the first half of the year. The official announcement of the initial $25 million portion occurred on June 27, 2013, positioning Clinkle's raise as one of the largest early-stage financings in the sector at the time and the biggest seed round in history. Proceeds from the round were primarily directed toward accelerating product development for Clinkle's technology, expanding the team, and building out and user networks, particularly on campuses to test and scale the platform. This allocation aimed to position the company to compete in the emerging space by investing in proprietary infrastructure and needs.

Key Investors and Hype

Clinkle secured its initial funding through a highly anticipated round announced in June 2013, raising $25 million from a diverse group of prominent firms and individual , marking the largest in history at the time. This round was later supplemented by an additional $5 million from Stanford's StartX fund and , bringing the total to $30.5 million; founder Lucas Duplan's parents had been early . Among the key investors were top-tier venture firms such as , Accel Partners (led by ), and Index Ventures, alongside strategic players like and . High-profile individuals further elevated the round's prestige, including PayPal co-founder , Salesforce CEO , Virgin Group founder , and VMware co-founders and . Branson's participation, announced in September 2013, was particularly noteworthy, as it aligned with his track record of backing innovative consumer tech ventures and added a layer of global celebrity endorsement to the startup's profile. The funding generated immense hype in the tech media, fueled by Clinkle's stealth status and the involvement of such influential backers, positioning it as a potential disruptor in mobile payments akin to early buzz around companies like Color. A Wall Street Journal feature in April 2013 spotlighted the company as one of the Valley's "most interesting – and mysterious" startups, amplifying about its sound-based payment technology and drawing over 100,000 sign-ups from college students within months. This celebrity-filled investor roster and rapid user interest created a narrative of potential, though it also intensified scrutiny on the 21-year-old founder's ability to deliver amid the crowded payments landscape.

Technology and Product

Clinkle's Aerolink system was a sound-based technology designed to facilitate secure, proximity-limited mobile payments using inaudible ultrasonic sound waves transmitted through standard smartphone hardware. The core mechanism operated in the ultrasonic frequency range of 19-21 kHz, above the typical human hearing threshold of 20 kHz, allowing data exchange without audible disruption. In operation, the sender device—such as a payer's —generated and broadcast an encoded ultrasonic identification signal via its speaker, which included timing delays for unique identification through echo delay encoding. The receiving , like another phone or a point-of-sale terminal equipped with a , captured the signal, decoded it to verify proximity and identity, and then retrieved or authorized transaction details via an out-of-band connection to a central server. This process enabled contactless transfers without requiring additional hardware, internet connectivity during the signal exchange itself, or physical contact between devices. The system offered several claimed benefits, including compatibility with virtually any modern due to reliance on built-in speakers and microphones, thereby reducing deployment costs compared to NFC or dedicated payment terminals. Its short-range transmission, effective over approximately 5 meters, enhanced by limiting interactions to nearby devices, making it suitable for transfers and in-store payments at checkout counters. Development of Aerolink began with prototypes in , coinciding with the company's founding, and progressed through with key advancements in . Clinkle filed a foundational for the technology on June 18, , which was published on October 10, , under the title "Wireless Transaction Communication Apparatus and Method."

Development Pivots and Failures

Following the initial development of its Aerolink sound-based , Clinkle abandoned the technology in fall 2013 due to insurmountable technical challenges, including signal interference from ambient such as blenders in retail environments and compatibility issues across diverse devices and settings. These hurdles prevented the creation of a reliable, scalable , as the ultrasound waves failed to transmit consistently without errors, leading to delays that eroded investor confidence and internal momentum. In response, Clinkle pivoted to a more conventional rewards-based in early , relying on standard mobile functionalities like transfers via a prepaid Visa card rather than innovative audio transmission. The app, launched in closed beta that year and targeted initially at college campuses, allowed users to send to friends for free from linked bank accounts and earn cashback-style "" such as free ice cream after qualifying purchases, but it offered little differentiation from competitors like . A specific demonstration of this system at Stanford in revealed its underwhelming simplicity, with early testers noting the clunky interface, slow , and lack of groundbreaking features that had been promised. These shifts highlighted broader failures in product development, including prolonged delays in producing a viable beyond the beta stage and an inability to overcome the audio technology's scalability limitations amid rising competition from established solutions like , which debuted in October 2014 with seamless NFC integration. By 2015, Clinkle had not achieved a full public launch of the pivoted app, as ongoing refinements failed to address its perceived lack of innovation, contributing to stalled growth and user disinterest.

Challenges

Management Issues

Under CEO Lucas Duplan, Clinkle's management was characterized by an authoritarian style that prioritized unilateral decision-making and created a high-pressure environment, eroding employee morale beginning in 2014. As a first-time founder in his early twenties with limited leadership experience, Duplan micromanaged engineering teams while demanding intense work schedules, often exceeding 80 hours per week, which contrasted sharply with the initial enthusiasm among the young, Stanford-affiliated staff. This approach fostered a hierarchical culture where employees felt isolated and undervalued, leading to widespread burnout as the company's product development dragged on due to Duplan's insistence on perfection over timely progress. Key incidents highlighted Duplan's inexperience and disregard for team input, such as his abrupt firing of senior executives on perceived whims, including the and VP of Engineering in early 2015 after they questioned his handling of external opportunities. Duplan frequently ignored advice from experienced hires, opting instead to prioritize media hype and personal equity stakes over substantive product advancements, which alienated the team and stalled internal collaboration. A notable example was the failed attempt to partner with Apple in 2014-2015, where Duplan's poor tactics—such as withholding critical from his own staff to pursue better personal terms—ultimately collapsed the discussions and deepened distrust within the company. The cultural fallout was profound, transforming Clinkle's early Stanford-rooted optimism into a reportedly by 2015, with anonymous employee accounts describing daily emotional harm and a lack of appreciation for the team's efforts. One former employee noted in media reports that Duplan "hurts his employees daily and shoves it under the rug as ," underscoring the authoritarian dynamic that treated staff as disposable in pursuit of ambitious goals. This environment not only accelerated turnover but also undermined the company's ability to innovate effectively, as fear of stifled and .

Employee Departures and Layoffs

In late 2013, Clinkle conducted significant layoffs, cutting approximately 25% of its staff, or about 16 employees, primarily from operations, growth, and human resources roles, as part of an organizational restructuring to focus resources on key areas. These reductions brought the company's headcount down from a peak of around 70 to approximately 55 by early 2014, amid efforts to hire more experienced executives. Further staff reductions occurred throughout 2014 through a combination of voluntary departures and additional cuts, shrinking the team to about 30 employees by the start of 2015, as product delays and internal challenges mounted. The most dramatic episode of employee departures came on May 15, 2015, when seven core engineers and long-term staff quit simultaneously in protest against CEO Lucas Duplan's leadership. The resignations were driven by frustrations over a lack of clear vision following the company's pivot from a consumer debit card to a B2B payments , as well as feelings of being misled about potential acquisition discussions, including unconfirmed talks with Apple. Employees cited Duplan's , marked by withholding critical information and abrupt firings—such as those of the and VP of —as the breaking point, leading to a sense of unfulfilled promises regarding the company's direction and their roles in it. These exits accelerated Clinkle's operational collapse, leaving fewer than a dozen employees by mid-2015, down from the earlier peak, and intensified media scrutiny on the startup's instability. The mass was publicized widely, highlighting broader issues of and retention that had plagued the company since its high-profile rounds.

Shutdown

2016 Closure

Clinkle ceased operations in early 2016 after burning through most of its $30.5 million in and facing investor demands for refunds, without launching a viable product or securing additional bridge financing. The company's inability to demonstrate working technology to potential investors, compounded by ongoing internal turmoil including mass employee departures in , eroded confidence among backers and left the startup without a sustainable . On January 22, 2016, reported the full implosion of Clinkle, highlighting how prominent investors such as and began demanding refunds on their investments starting in the summer of 2015, signaling the end of any operational viability. With no product ever reaching the market despite multiple pivots, the company effectively ceased operations as a defunct entity incorporated in .

Aftermath and Legacy

Following Clinkle's 2016 shutdown, investors pursued limited recourse to recover portions of their $30.5 million in funding, with reports indicating that approximately $10-15 million in remaining cash was available for partial refunds as early as , though the extent of actual distributions remains unclear. Firms such as and Accel Partners, along with individual backers like , reportedly sought returns through negotiations, but the process yielded significant net losses for most stakeholders due to the absence of viable assets or revenue. No major asset sales were documented, underscoring the challenges of liquidating from an unlaunched product. Founder Lucas Duplan largely withdrew from public view after the closure, resurfacing in with a low-profile crypto-focused venture fund targeting startups, including investments in blockchain-based employee rewards projects like the Universal Recognition Token (URT). As of 2025, Duplan remains a private investor focused on technology ventures, maintaining a low public profile. This pivot elicited mixed reactions in the tech community, with some viewing it as a potential redemption through a nascent sector tolerant of past failures, while others criticized it as opportunistic given Clinkle's mismanagement history. Clinkle's collapse served as a in the sector, illuminating the perils of hype-driven funding rounds that prioritize celebrity endorsements over product validation, as well as the need for seasoned leadership to navigate regulatory and technical hurdles in mobile payments. The venture's struggles with audio-based , in particular, highlighted scalability issues in sound-wave transactions amid competition from NFC standards like , prompting greater investor scrutiny of unproven innovations in subsequent startups. The episode has been featured as a case study in business school curricula, such as Stanford's entrepreneurship courses, exemplifying "vaporware" pitfalls where excessive early capital leads to operational disarray without market delivery. While Clinkle itself saw no acquisitions, its failure underscored the risks of overambitious tech without robust execution.

References

  1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2013/06/27/payments-startup-clinkle-raises-25-million-seed-round/
  2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2016/01/22/clinkle-up-in-smoke-as-investors-want-their-money-back/
  3. https://d3.harvard.edu/platform-rctom/submission/clinkle-how-to-go-from-a-soon-to-be-unicorn-to-complete-failure-in-one-year/
  4. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/clinkle-once-hot-payment-app-145511624.html
  5. https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-story-of-clinkle-2014-4
  6. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324020504578396912443242512
  7. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2013/06/this-22-year-old-just-won-silicon-valley.html
  8. https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/2011/09/startx-demo-day-gives-first-look-at.html
  9. https://www.vox.com/2014/3/13/11624542/clinkles-still-a-hot-mess-as-its-big-shot-coo-departs
  10. https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/27/clinkle-raises-celebrity-filled-25m-round-as-it-gears-up-to-eliminate-the-physical-wallet/
  11. https://allthingsd.com/20130627/pressure-is-on-stealth-payments-startup-clinkle-as-it-raises-25-million-from-big-name-investors/
  12. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/richard-branson-invests-startup-no-202200568.html
  13. https://www.vox.com/2014/3/18/11624662/clinkle-revealed-heres-what-the-embattled-startup-is-and-isnt-building
  14. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20130268277A1/en
  15. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2013/07/what-is-clinkle/313705/
  16. https://www.vox.com/2014/9/24/11631246/six-months-later-clinkle-is-what-we-thought-it-was
  17. https://stanforddaily.com/2014/11/02/the-unfortunate-state-of-mobile-payments/
  18. https://techcrunch.com/2014/09/23/clinkle/
  19. https://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-to-work-for-clinkle-and-why-employees-are-leaving-2013-11
  20. https://www.smartwareadvisors.com/pages/case-study-clinkle-the-pitfalls-of-misjudging-product-market-fit
  21. https://techcrunch.com/2015/05/15/clunk/
  22. https://9to5mac.com/2015/05/15/apple-clinkle-acquire/
  23. https://techcrunch.com/2013/12/09/payments-startup-clinkle-lays-off-a-quarter-of-its-staff/
  24. https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2015/05/clinkle-employees-exit-after-attempts-to-woo-apple.html
  25. https://www.wired.com/story/another-failed-silicon-valley-exec-gets-a-crypto-project/
  26. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucasduplan
  27. https://www.technologyreview.com/2013/08/20/176938/why-some-are-turning-to-sound-for-mobile-payments-and-more/
  28. https://www.dannycrichton.com/files/teaching/EST364_Summer2015/Clinkle.pdf
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.