iRobot CEO Says Bankruptcy Exposed New Rival: ‘Chinese Fast Followers’

If there’s one lesson iRobot founder Colin Angle took from the company’s bankruptcy, it’s never to underestimate competitors. On December 14, iRobot, maker of the popular robotic vacuum Roomba, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and will be acquired by its primary contract manufacturer, Chinese company Picea Robotics. Angle said one of his biggest takeaways as iRobot enters its next phase is that even market leaders must remain alert to competition from China. “It’s certainly the advent of this new type of competitor, the Chinese fast follower, who had access to the Chinese marketplace, which iRobot effectively did not,” he…