The service, which had raised $1.75 billion in funding, was run by entertainment executive Jeffrey Katzenberg and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman, and featured  some of the biggest corporate names in Hollywood as backers.

The company said Wednesday that it would wind down its operations, and plans to sell its assets.

The video platform — short for "quick bites" and designed for people out and about to watch short videos on their phones — was one of a slew of new streaming services to challenge Netflix over the past few years, most of which were part of much bigger tech and entertainment companies, like Apple and Disney.

"There was no question that keeping us going was not going to have a different outcome, it was just going to spend a whole lot more money without any value to show for it," Katzenberg told entertainment publication Deadline in an interview. ?

Part of the appeal of the service, which started at $5 a month, was supposed to be that you could watch short videos while out, without access to a TV.

But short videos abound on the internet, and the coronavirus pandemic kept many people at home. .

"While we have enough capital to continue operating for a significant period of time, we made the difficult decision to wind down the business, return cash to our shareholders, and say goodbye to our talented colleagues with grace," Whitman, the CEO, said in a statement.

The company said that money from the sale of its assets will go toward paying off liabilities and whatever remains will be returned to investors.

One of its investors is Viacom, the entertainment company that merged with CBS in December to form ViacomCBS, the parent of CBS Interactive and CBS News.