Skyrider, the Mountain View, Calif.-based startup that made headlines early on for its attempts to monetize P2P networks through advertising, has shut its doors, VentureBeat reported yesterday. We’re still trying to get an official word from the company about this, but as of this writing, they hadn’t responded to any of our emails or phone calls. Skyrider raised a total of $25 million, but seemed to run into trouble earlier this year when a round of bridge funding coincided with both the CEO and the V-P of marketing leaving the company. In the subsequent months, a number of other employees left as well, including its CFO in July.

It’s still unclear what exactly happened in the last couple of months at Skyrider. Co-founder and interim CEO Ori Cohen told us earlier this year that Skyrider was preparing for a web-based offering that was supposed to be launched this summer, and its web site refers to a project that “that will revolutionize the online music world.” Maybe they ran out of money before the revolution started. VentureBeat’s Eric Eldon is hoping that Skyrider’s original P2P technology “has not entirely gone to waste;” he cites an anonymous investor in the company referring to it as both “incredible” and “totally wicked.”

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