Ripple-Backed Omni Rentals to Shut Down by Late 2019: Report

Omni Rentals, a $35 million-funded storage and rental startup backed by major crypto firm Ripple, is reportedly shutting down its operations.

As Omni is expecting to close its platform by the end of 2019, about 10 of Omni's engineers will be hired by major American crypto exchange and wallet service Coinbase, tech-focused publication TechCrunch reports Nov. 25.

Omni has not made an official closure announcement at press time, and has not responded to Cointelegraph's request for comment at the time of publication.

An anonymous Omni spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company will be winding down its operations and expects to close the platform by the end of this year.

Other anonymous sources close to Omni reported that the service was good for customers, but scaling it would have been difficult and expensive.

As Cointelegraph reported, Coinbase previously discussed the opportunity of hiring Omni's engineering team in early October 2019.

Omni's business was purportedly doing poorly at the time, as the platform was experiencing difficulties finding customers.

A Coinbase representative told TechCrunch that the firm reached an agreement with Omni to hire members of its engineering team, but did not specify what the new team will be working on at the exchange.

Launched in 2015, Omni reportedly received $25 million from Ripple in early 2018 for its white-label service project.

On Nov. 25, Ripple made a final $20 million equity investment in money transmission network MoneyGram as part of its original $50 million equity investment commitment.