Wilmington startup Electronic Lab Logs has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

According to court filings, the startup, led by CEO Brian Fox, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 1. The company is expected to continue operating while it restructures financially.

Founded by Daniel Summers and Jeremy Sikorski in 2018, Lab Logs was designed to improve lab data collection by using cloud-based software rather than relying on paper logs.

Lab Logs currently has assets of around $1.6 million, with debts of nearly $2.5 million from both secured and unsecured creditors, according to court records. It currently owes the most to investor Rockmont Partners. 

The startup garnered local and state recognition in 2020, receiving a $50,000 grant from NC IDEA’s SEED program and a Coastal Entrepreneur Award (the award program is a joint effort by the Business Journal and UNCW's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship) that same year, in addition to placing third in the NC BIONEER Venture Challenge.

In 2024, the company announced an initial lead investment of $2 million from Nashville-based venture capital firm Rockmont Partners. At the time, Summers told the Business Journal that the company had also closed on $650,000 in combined funding from South Carolina-based VentureSouth, Atlanta-based Gray Ventures and several angel investors.

Last year, Summers quietly stepped down as CEO and was succeeded by Fox, managing partner of Rockmont Partners and a board member. Fox did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

“The former CEO had an issue where he needed to step down,” Fox said during court proceedings on July 9, “and the board asked me, as an investor from Rockmont, to step in and be the CEO." Fox was not compensated for interim CEO duties, he said during court proceedings.

According to Fox, the company had been a “loss leader for a while,” and Rockmont got involved a year ago. According to the filings, Summers had hired a financial advisor, Tim DeBone of the Bagchi Group, as early as August 2024. 

In early January, Summers was arrested and charged with assaulting a child. At the time, Summers’ wife described the incident to the Business Journal as occurring during a psychotic break. Summers pleaded guilty to the charge of assault with a deadly weapon in March and was remanded to a suspended sentence of up to three years in prison with 48 months of supervised probation.

According to Lab Logs’ attorney for the case, John Northen, partner at Northen Blue LLP, said during court proceedings that Rockmont had made “bridge loans” to keep the company afloat and was unwilling to make additional loans unless there was a restructuring of the capital structure from the shareholders. Because the restructuring failed to receive approval from enough shareholders, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

According to the filings, Lab Logs received bridge loans from Rockmont Growthtech Fund I, LP and Rockmont Growthtech Fund I QP, LP, with an outstanding amount of $1.7 million. The loans of $1 million and $600,000 were made in March 2025 and May 2026, respectively.

The filing states that Lab Logs attempted to raise additional investment funds but was unsuccessful and is unable to obtain credit or financing from third-party sources, “whether on a secured or unsecured basis.” 

“The Debtor holds title to its assets but has little if any existing equity to offer as collateral to secure additional financing, and the ongoing business operations are insufficient to service the existing debt or pay the costs incurred to continue operating the Business,” the filing stated. 

Rockmont has offered the company post-petition debtor-in-possession financing, a specialized loan granted after it files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The $1 million loan is subject to court approval and carries an interest rate of 15% – the same rate offered on the bridge loans.

The loan is intended to pay administrative and court fees as well as costs required to continue business operations, and all outstanding principal and interest are due by Dec. 31. 

Creditors with unsecured claims include American Express ($27,000), Hutchinson PLLC ($112,400) and Dualboot Partners, a software company responsible for the Lab Logs platform, which is owed $615,000. 

Under the post-petition loan, Fox, listed as a director of the debtor, would receive $150,000 per year in compensation. Curt Futch, a managing partner at Rockmont and Sikorski, is also listed as a director of the debtor and will receive no compensation. 

The court approved pre-petition wages for the company’s nine employees and interim approval of the $1 million post-petition loan. A second hearing for final consideration of the financing is scheduled for July 28. 

A meeting of creditors is scheduled for Aug. 18, with the last day to file complaints on Oct. 19 and proofs of claims due by Nov. 16, according to court records.