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Monday 3 December 2018

Emoov goes into Administration taking down its staff and shareholders as a goodbye Christmas present.



This Emoov fiasco is some serious caca. And we dont think the directors who managed to persuade so many Crowdcube investors to pile money into the company on the back of some watery promises will have heard the last of it.


This is one of the worst suicide notes we seen in recent times - it starts by making the false assumption, that the directors were entrepreneurs. I can think of words to describe them, but entrepreneur is not on the list - 

"They say that entrepreneurs should never give up. But at the same time one needs to know when efforts have been truly exhausted and when you simply have to call it a day.
"Regretfully and despite my significant endeavours over this weekend to achieve such, the prospective purchasers that have been in the wings have not come through with viable offers to acquire the Emoov business.
"In good faith, my absolute quest over the past few weeks has been to secure the future of Emoov under a new owner in order that staff and customers would have continuity and certainty. Sadly, that is not now to be.
"At 1pm today [Monday December 3] I held a call with Emoov board members where it was agreed to appoint James Cowper Kreston as administrators. Once this intention is filed with the court later today they will take charge of the affairs of the company and its staff, customers and creditors and will work to secure an ultimate buyer.
"Today is a truly sad day - but at the same time I am sincerely grateful to you all for your support, your loyalty and your hard work over the nine years since I founded the business. I'm especially touched by those that have attended the office and that have continued to work with me over the last few days in spite of the dark clouds that have gathered of late.
"I am also extremely grateful to specific shareholders such as Simon Murdoch of Episode 1; Gaby Salem of wharton Capital; and Alexander Lazarev of Maxfield Capital whom have been of immense support and professionalism since investing and in the last few weeks and months, fighting with me to preserve the company.   
"We built a business together that made positive noise, punched well above its weight and sought to make the home buying and selling experience better. We commanded a position as a well recognised thought leader and commentator and that led with a customer first, value led, tech enabled proposition. I'm proud of that and I am proud of all of you on that journey as the integral part of it. Our tech, systems, brand, TV ads, profile etc were all important components - but the team remains THE most important aspect by far. This is often underestimated by others. 
"So, thank you. But above all, I'm so sincerely sorry that it has come to this. 
"Peter Whalley and Tom Russell at James Cowper Kreston will be in contact and will guide you through the important aspects of the next steps." 

Bottom line is if buyers had been in the wings and the business was worth what he told us it was , they would have bought. BS only sticks for so long, no matter how much you throw at the wall. Crowdcube investors were told certain things that have turned out to be less than accurate. Crowdcube need to step up and explain how that could happen. The FCA need to step up and explain how they allowed Crowdcube to let that happen. Of course neither will do a thing. They never do. 
We wrote about this here when they announced they were going to 'sell'  the company. The only sensible thing that has come out of this is that this company couldnt be sold. You have to ask why. 

The Crowdcube Emoov second raise - just a few months ago for £1.8m, means that Crowdcube has enabled this shambles to raise £4.4m from the public. Just 2
months or so ago, Crowdcube were happy to enable this company to sell its equity on their platform at a valuation of £100m. £100m. And we warned you all not to invest. Is it right that Crowdcube get to keep their commission whilst their investors get shafted and the Emoov staff spend Christmas unemployed? Where is the justice in that?
Yet another reason why ECF Buzz needs to be launched - join up here if you want to do something -https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ecf-buzz-the-crowd-investors-information-centre/x/19804529/

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