Yes, that's true. I even know of an exchange Project which seemed very promising, I can't remember the name now, but I remember participating in the trading competition last year, I was surprised when they announced that the project did not make up to 100$ in the ICO and had to refund the peanut raised back to the investors. I sincerely didn't see that coming.
That's a clear indication that the fact that the project seem promising and have a low hardcap doesn't justify its success. From your explanation, the project already had a working product as you participated in the trading competition, but at Last nothing came out of it.
It's really unfortunate and I feel their pain, the team must have spent a fortune in designing, hosting and maintaining the exchange platform with the hope that they would be reimbursed after the tokensale, only for nothing to be raised. I still believe that they had a poor marketing team.