We come across this scenario too often with equity crowdfunding.
Datemy Ltd pitched for money on Bank to the Future at the end of 2013 and completed in January 2014 according to both the owner of Datemy and Bnktothefuture - the infamous Simon Dixon. To confirm this an article appeared in the Huffington Post in December 2014 where the owner of Datemy was interviewed -
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/12/04/rachael-wardle-datemy-young-entrepreneur_n_6235924.html - in it she confirms that she raised the money on Bnktothefuture in January 2014. However the article states that she raised £25k only - whereas Bnktothefuture claimed £50k.
Accounts just filed for Datemy to YE 09/14 show no sign of any shares being issued or any cash being delivered in. The company has £100 of share capital all owned by Rachel Ward and its AR01 from October 14 shows capital of £1. It has accrued £15k of trade creditors and done nothing else - no cash, no sales etc in 9 months since the £50k was apparently lodged. Companies House have no record of any share allotment since 09/14.
It doesnt add up. Of course as you would expect, the Datemy projections for YE 09/14 show a turnover of £140k for the nine months from January - not the zero actually filed.
It's just another example of the power of the web to misinform and the way that platforms are using this to create facts that never happened. Journalists seem unable or unwilling to do the basic research to verify their output but then they are not paid for that. So it goes on - good luck to anyone trying to invest in ECF with anything closely resembling the true facts.
This investment was SEIS qualified according to bnktothefuture website and the business plan, so we would love to know if HMRC have issued £25k back to 'investors' - the ones that do not seem to exist. Maybe this is the answer to this riddle?
Rob, is it just me or do you find it strange that neither Simon Dixon nor Rachel Wardle have responded to this article since it was posted a week ago? Surely they are aware of the article and could use these comments as a forum to respond?
ReplyDeleteIm sure Rachel doesnt know about this blog - Simon may but wouldnt have anything to say that was not a lie. He also has Marcela's Kitchen as a success on his site - this nener raised any capital and has closed with Marcela being the sole shareholder. Simon's A01 for Bnktothefuture Ltd is just rubbish as it states on his site - tes people have paid in over £1.5bn in share capital. We have asked Co Ho to look into it.
ReplyDeleteI will do a bit of digging myself into BTTF and Dixon. He may be all you suggest but he has managed to pull the wool over Branson's eyes (no big surprise) and also Max Keiser, who I always thought had his b*llsh*t deflector on high alert.
ReplyDeleteDixon has a record of lying - or being feint with the truth. He used to claim he had been a investment banker until it turned out he was only a trainee for 4 months with KBC Peels in the corporate side. BTTF has numerous spurious claims on it and had to move off shore as it couldnt get any mugs to agree to extend its FCA licence. IMO Keiser is nut who's clutching at straws. Branson made one off the cuff comment before BTTF got going and its typical of Dixon to have milked this dry several times. I would bet my life if you asked him again he would say he was mistaken.
ReplyDeleteFurther to the above, the excellent new CH beta service now allows even more of Dixon's lies to be exposed. He has always claimed that Peter Hargreaves invested in his company Benedix - it makes headlines in his life story like Branson's comment. Check CH for the records - Hargreaves either invested £100 or nil depending on which version of the A01 you wish to believe - the company had 450 ord £1 shares but it seems they were all unpaid or £450 was paid in. That is certainly not in any way the description used by Dixon. Its just typical of the sort of lies and misdirections he uses
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