Reports of the death of Myshowcase have been greatly exaggerated - apparently.

In a complete reversal, Myshowcase CEO Nancy, has now told shareholders the company has been sold in such a way as to protect their EIS status.

Hats off to Nancy. The deal she has done is with Miroma, who were an existing investor. How the deal is structured is not clear - certainly from Nancy's explanation. But according to her, Miroma will own all of the stock of Mychowcase and then apportion 12.5% of the enlarged Miroma to existing CC shareholders. Hmmm - how does that work again?

Questions asked of Crowdcube get the usual reply  - go ask Nancy. 

She also claims that 'as the bargain has been done at arms length' the EIS status will be intact. Right.

Miroma Group is a dormant company but is part of a chain of Miroma companies. Miroma International as the email indicates has a £100m turnover with £2.5m net profits. It's picking up a bargain but what is not clear is what Myshowcase investors have picked up.

So we imagine CC shareholders will end up with 12.5% of the empty Miroma Group - up until now owned by the Miroma CEO and as we said, dormant. Is this essentially a phoenix where the old Myshowcase will be able to off load irritating creditors? Miroma are paying a nominal amount to purchase 100% of Myshowcase. We'd expect to see Nancy taking a seat at the Miroma Group table shortly. 

Anyway it has to be better than her last email which simply stated the company was closing and would cease trading at the end of January.  Or maybe not?

Myshowcase raised £1m a year ago on CC.

Thanks to all those who emailed this in to us.

Berrywhite disappears from the Crowdcube platform after offering free shares to get over the line

Berrywhite offered new Crowdcube investors free shares at the weekend. Monday has seen the pitch removed.

The CEO had struggled for a long time to raise more cash - he had already taken the valuation down and extended the campaign. Two days ago he posted a free share offer to the next investors  - in order to push him over the line.

We didnt think Crowdcube would like this and investors threatened to pull out over it. See the last but one post for more details.

Why he bothered is a bit of mystery as Crowdcube's back catalogue is littered with pitches that never crossed the line but were funded. He needed advice, clearly.

For Crowdcube's commission I'm pretty sure Berrywhite will be funded.

What now for Zero Carbon Foods?

This post has been removed as we were getting an increasing number of spammers commenting.

The company accounts are due out in February so we see what is really what then. 

Localpropertyindex says goodnight.

The CEO of Localpropertyindex.com listed a previous company on the LSE, according to Crowdcube's 2014 pitch for the company. Well it seems he has lost this one.

Backed by some two-bit US VC firm Jensen, the company is now dark - no website no SM. Recent accounts show little activity and no cash.  - Correction - see comments below. Jensen Solutions seem to be the VCs. So investors in their SEIS fund will have lost out.

Luckily Crowdcube investors were only in this for £9k as the VC put the rest in to get to £159k, which was someway short of their target but it funded anyway in good old Crowdcube fashion.

It turns out that Gary Smith the CEO, had been involved in the IPO of Netstore in 2000. The shares were offered at £1.50. By 2001 the share price touched 12p. See here  Gary resigned in 2001. 

What's next? Who knows. It is hard to run an online property platform without being on line. 

Berrywhite are making a mockery of the FCA

Berrywhite have been trying to raise £150k on Crowdcube for ages. Now looks they will succeed thanks to some highly dubious marketing on Crowdcube's platform.

Berrywhite were never going to make it. they have rasied money before and delivered nothing close to what they have promised - this blog is full of them. They have extended the campaign at least once and reduced their valuation but it was stuck. Until they came up with this - posted yesterday

Bonus shares for the next five investors who invest £5K or more

awmjennings 1 day ago

7 Replies

So far we have raised £126,140, so we are still short of our target by £23,860 and our deadline is midnight tonight.

So the next five people to invest £5K or more up to a combined total of £25K, I will double your shareholding by gifting you some of my personal shares.

Please note that the shares that I gift you if you invest will not be EIS shares.

Andrew Jennings
Managing Director
Berrywhite Limited

Some of the responses - 

...................................................................

Mr_Bean 1 day ago 

Andrew

You should have listen to investors feedback weeks ago on having a justifyable valuation to avoid this last minute incentives.

Best wishes

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awmjennings 1 day ago 

Dear Mr Bean, We listened to you actually and we did reduce the valuation:

New update from Berrywhite Natural Drinks raising investment on Crowdcube. Capital at Risk.https://www.crowdcube.com/companies/berrywhite-limited-1/pitches/qBygYb/updates/Z54QOl

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cube_charles_murphy 18 hours ago 

Is this allowed and is it legally binding?

This essentially creates a two-tier pitch. Those paying more are buying at half price. I never saw this on crowdcube before.

Finally, what about investors who already invested over 5K before this point. It would be unfair not to give them the same deal as this would be the same as changing the valuation of a pitch halfway through but only applying it to new investors.

I think we need a crowdcube ruling on this offer.

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Mr_Bean 18 hours ago 

Moreover I am none the wiser as to why and on what basis second extension was granted.

I have cancelled my token investment.

Best wishes and good luck.

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awmjennings 18 hours ago 

Dear Charles,

Thank you for your comments. We will contact Crowdcube on Monday and raise your concerns.

Best regards,

Andrew

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stellar 2 hours ago 

I will pull my investment if its not confirmed that all investor in the same round are "pari passu".

I agree with comments above the right valuation from the start would have gone a long way to getting this round funded quickly. Focus on revenue growth and EBTIDA ... valuation will follow along.

Best
S

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14pms02 33 minutes ago 

Same thought as cube_charles_murphy
Are there any learned friends, with expert knowledge, who are able to comment ?
Similarly I trust the CrowdCube compliance people had a say BEFORE the bonus offer was put onto the site and formally concurred it.
Crowdcube Capital Ltd is, as it says on the website footer, authorised and regulated by the FCA.

.....................................................................

So it seems that despite the total having shot up to 92%(from 80%), people are not happy. Do Crowdcube really think this is a sensible way to carry an FCA regulated trade? Surely not - even they must see this for what it is. 

Monday will tell....................

Having your Cake but not able to eat it? Crowdcube land another dud.

Cake has now agreed sales terms with a US organisation, returning shareholders $1.40 per share. This price, which is not yet guaranteed as it is subject to the buyers future approval, represents a substantial loss for Crowdcube shareholders.

Cake took £1m off Crowdcube investors in 2015. Now the founders, Charlotte and Michelle, have agreed a deal where they get a substantial return but investors are losers. But at least they can laugh about it.

This is a deal that gave shareholders no choice - they were not even asked; just told to sign away their shares. So much for the rights of A, B, C or any minor shareholder when founders decide it's time to cash in. And of course the poor old shareholders have to take another big hit as their EIS relief is now invalid and will have to be repaid. Thanks girls.

The US purchaser is unnamed. But the price agreed is around £9.7m or $13.2m. Back in the summer of 17 Crowdcube and the founders backed a valuation of £11.5m. The £9.7m has also to cover some outstanding debts. We had something to say about that then - here 

I know people who used Cake and loved it.

The founders are smiling as the investors, who allowed them to make their profits, sit with large losses. Oh well, caveat emptor or you could take our advice in future. Worth remembering these two as we think they will be back for more!

Crowdcube companies' results are serious cause for concern

Meet on VC raised £200k on Crowdcube in £2014. Their projected profit for the last year was over £3m. They recently filed losses of £330k and their balance sheet is short of almost £400k. They have no function.

Apparently they changed their name to Close, according to the Crowdcube webiste. Which is almost appropriate.

Their website is 'coming soon' but we doubt that. They have 72 followers on Twitter and last tweeted in 2015.

In the long list we are compiling, of companies filing accounts recently, that have failed to come close to expectations, they are close to the top of the flops.

The Crowdcube pitch tells us that they aim to have revenues of £18m by 2017 and a value of £35m. Philip Marshman, who headed the pitch, left two years ago - once he had spent the cash. How can you have what Marshman describes as a software platform without a website or any SM presence?

Just add the D and be done with it.