A sale while the company still trades
Selling a hardware startup: the product record as an asset
Updated
A hardware startup sold as a going concern can license its engineering record alongside, or instead of, the business. The approvals and the exclusions are worth settling before a buyer asks.
Ask about my hardware record Most of the vendors we read leave the data with you, but the contract with each customer decides the rest. Tell us what the vault holds and we will reply about your own designs.
The vote a sale of the assets needs
Delaware's section 271 lets the board sell, lease or exchange all or substantially all of the corporation's property and assets when a resolution adopted by the holders of a majority of the outstanding stock entitled to vote authorises it.
What an AI buyer puts a figure on
Mercor's Hardware Engineering Company listing, published on 17 October 2026 and read by us on 28 October 2026, gives $45,000 at the low end and $1,350,000 at the high end per company, adding that the amount depends on assembly count and completeness. That is Mercor's own published range, not a valuation of any company's files.
What stays out of the deal
The same listing names designs owned by your customers, single parts and parts catalogs as not a fit. A supplier's drawings made under a customer's order belong in a separate pile until that customer's contract has been read.
Export rules travel with the files
The UK Export Control Order defines technology to include blueprints, manuals, diagrams and designs, and bars transferring military software or technology by electronic means without authorisation. A record holding such items is a matter for an export-control adviser before it is a matter for a buyer.