Rockley Photonics

How it happened

Rockley Photonics was a UK silicon-photonics company known for biosensing technology and ties to Apple, going public via SPAC in 2021 near a $1.2B valuation. The loss of a key customer and financing pressures led to a sharp decline, and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023, wiping out nearly all equity value. Glassdoor reviews are consistent about the internal cause: brilliant engineers scattered across too many simultaneous projects, steered by leadership reviewers described as toxic and openly feuding. As investor money dried up with rising rates, staff recounted repeated rounds of mass layoffs and constant changes of direction — a company that oversold its technology and chased more than it could ship.

Employee accounts paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗. See our methodology.