Brooklyn, New York-based journalism startup The Civil Media Company has announced that it has failed to raise its funding target during its token sale, and will be issuing refunds to early investors.

Civil founder and chief executive officer Matthew Iles shared the somber news via the company’s Medium blog. Over 3,000 participants invested in the Civil token sale, however, funding still fell short of its $8 million target. The token sale was only able to bring in a meager $1.4 million from supporters.

Iles is “disappointed” that the Civil (CVL) token sale didn’t reach its funding targets, but reaffirmed the company is “as committed as ever to seeing Civil out in the world.”

Despite the setback, Civil plans to move full steam ahead and relaunch a “new, much simpler token sale,” that it will be sharing details on “soon,” adding this will happen within “weeks, not months.”

Investors who registered for the previous token sale will be given the opportunity to invest in the new token sale, or request a refund. Investors that take no action will be automatically refunded on October 29.

The Civil Foundation still has $3.5 million in funding from the Joseph Lubin-founded blockchain software company ConsenSys. Civil will use the backing to fund 14 initial newsrooms and their operations.

Civil is hopeful the new token sale is more successful than the last, and says that the platform is ready to launch immediately after the tokens from the new sale are distributed.

Civil’s mission is to move journalism to the blockchain for greater accountability and transparency. The crypto startup was recently able to strike a partnership deal with media powerhouse Forbes to publish content on the Civil blockchain. It was also reported that

Civil was exploring additional partnerships with the likes of Dow Jones, New York Times, and The Washington Post, but failed to reach an agreement.