AR helmet startup Skully may have risen from the dead

It seems Skully, the AR helmet company that crashed and burned in July of 2016 after the former CEO Marcus Weller refused to sign a confidentiality deal with investors is trying to make a comeback.

A letter sent to those who had previously subscribed to the Skully email list, and obtained by TechCrunch, says new company SKULLY Technologies is bringing back the helmet.

Interestingly, cousins and new co-founders of the company Ivan Contreras and Rafael Contreras say in the letter they have purchased the company and relocated it to Atlanta, Georgia in an attempt to fulfill SKULLY’s “destiny.”

It appears the Contreras cousins have “refounded” a number of previously existing companies, including an electric bike company called TORROT, which was a company created in the 1980s formerly known as GASGAS.

We’d heard a lot of talk about various entities possibly purchasing the bones of what was left of Skully when it went down in flames last year, but it’s not clear if the new SKULLY holds the rights to the former company’s IP or how soon it may be offering the new helmets for purchase. However, a high-tech bike helmet would fit nicely within the Contreras’s company interests, and it makes sense the two would want to see the helmet through to production.

While the letter stresses this new SKULLY is different from the now bankrupt company it is based on, it hints of possibly delivering the helmets to those who previously purchased them or contributed to the making of the helmets under the old company.

“Although SKULLY Technologies has no formal obligation to the customers of the now defunct SKULLY, Inc., we recognize that hundreds of SKULLY helmet enthusiasts around the world have contributed to this product and were understandably disappointed that they never received one. We are determined to make this right,” the letter states.

Note, the letter does not explicitly say it will deliver helmets to those who had purchased them from the previous Skully, and it’s not clear at this time what “make this right” means. A couple of people who received the letter today have also told TechCrunch they are skeptical of ever getting the helmet for which they paid thousands.

We’ve reached out to the new co-founders to learn more and will be sure to update you if and when they let us know more. In the meantime, please send any tips you might have to sarah dot buhr at techcrunch dot com.

Here’s the letter in full below:

You are receiving this email because you are part of the SKULLY Nation and we are bringing back the SKULLY helmet.

We are happy to inform you that the assets of SKULLY, Inc., have been acquired by Ivan Contreras and Rafael Contreras, successful businessmen in a variety of global turnaround industrial and technology ventures, with the goal of fulfilling SKULLY’s destiny.

Ivan Contreras, President of the new company SKULLY Technologies, assembled a new leadership team and has located the headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

SKULLY Technologies is unrelated to the former SKULLY, Inc., which filed bankruptcy and is no longer in business.  Although SKULLY Technologies has no formal obligation to the customers of the now defunct SKULLY, Inc., we recognize that hundreds of SKULLY helmet enthusiasts around the world have contributed to this product and were understandably disappointed that they never received one.

We are determined to make this right.

We will be sharing more updates soon on SKULLY and the revival of the SKULLY Nation.

Ivan Contreras
President
SKULLY Technologies

www.skullytechnologies.com