Crowdcube's Socapps finally says So Long, So What, Farewell, Hard Luck.

                                         

Socapps funded via Crowdcube in 2014. It took £77k off investors. It hasnt done much since and has now, after a long time in limbo, finally issued a Final Gazette.

It was apparently an App - but it never had much of a commercial offering as far as we can tell. The last accounts filed were for YE Feb15, so what it has done in almost 4 years since then is anyone's guess.

Yet another Crowdcube farce. Well done boys.

We have written about this company a few times - the App is now owned by another company although it too seems to have done little with it. See here.

According to Crowdcube the company is still active. Good job.

Socapps Limited is a cautionary tale on how long a company can limp on before closure without filing accounts

Socapps sits on the CH files much like a derelict empty plot sits in a town - just waiting for someone to do something, anything, with it. It hasnt filed accounts since YE February 2015. It raised £77k on Crowdcube in 2014.

We have written about them before - here

The App is now owned by Cornish Media Industries, which appears to have no connection to Socapps Ltd. Although there is some connection between the directors.

Why the company has not been closed down is a mystery. The first First Gazette was posted in May17, suspended and discontinued and then re issued August 2017 and then suspended again. Still no accounts since February 2015 - almost 4 years ago.

Of course this company is currently, quite legitimately, still on Crowdcube's active list. Does that make any sense to anyone? We can confirm this is not the only company funded via Crowdcube that is in this type of situation.

Growing numbers of Crowdcube backed companies are taking investors to places they didnt know about.

We said this would happen in 2013. Numerous Crowdcube backed companies are now either failing to issue accounts, failing to file anything or have been 'taken over' with no regard for the interests of shareholders. 

To take a just a couple; Stockflare and Socapps. Total invested is north of £500k. 

Socapps have not filed accounts since 2015. They do nothing. But are still 'active' at CH. Their app Browsa, isnt and their SM, doesnt. We have written about them before. 

Stockflare told investors a while ago that they had failed. But would try to encourage a sale. Now they are Stockflare Analytics and run by the same crew who also set up Stockflare Securities which has a US company, Stockflare inc. It is partnered by US firm DriveWealth in NJ. 

Oddly Stockflare A states on its website - 

This website is operated and maintained by Stockflare Analytics Limited, a UK company. For the avoidance of doubt, Stockflare Analytics Limited, should not be confused with Stockflare Securities Ltd. Access our filings at the UK's CompaniesHouse.gov.uk.

The two are run by the same people, the latter was incorporated June 2018. Stockflare S company is the one with an FCA licence. Stockflare A appears not to have one. For a company recommending investments in shares that is a little odd. Stockflare S are just third party holders, a system which invites trouble and one which we have been calling for changes to. 

The only running thread through all of this is Shane Leonard, who was the guy selling Stockflare to Crowdcube investors for £450k, all that time ago in 2015. Shane is named on the FCA licence for Stockflare S. He has had a few companies - none of which have done much at all. There was talk of CC shareholders getting Crypto once the company was passed on - yes that old chestnut again. Yo, whats good? Crypto - the criss Bayden goldminted cashpan, innit bruv. Just look at XXXXXX - ontop jokes right. 

So where does that leave Crowdcube investors? We have absolutely no idea but we are pretty sure it isnt anywhere they were looking to be. Hitching a lift home might take a while. 

There are lots more examples and they are being added to by the month. 

Where have Socapps and its app Browsa gone?

Crowdcube's detritus builds into ever larger piles, as yet another success looks like failure. 

UPDATE - We were contacted by Dorian Spackman. He claims that he was never part of Socapps but that his company CMI, was contracted by Socapps to develop the Browsa App. We dont know if this is correct but in the Crowdcube Pitch it states that Dorian Spackmann is The Technical Director of Socapps - this information would have been verified by the FCA regulated Crowdcube platform, under their FCA licence before being used to sell this company's equity to the public. So someone is misleading someone else.  

Socapps Ltd, with its app Browsa,  has been in CH limbo for two years, having failed to file accounts since 2015. The company's SM has had no activity on it for 3 years. It looks like a busted flush.

Or as we call them, a zombie - a business that someone keeps on preventing the system from closing down. Crowdcube have plenty of them currently on their books. Companies that raised funding, and then just evapourated into the ether. Zombies are right up there with failures in terms of numbers of successes Crowdcube had funded. 

The Browsa App now appears to be sold by Cornish Media Industries, a company with a large deficit on its most recent balance sheet. The main director of CMI, a Dorian Spackman, was also a main feature in Socapps' Crowdcube pitch and was a director of a now closed company called Browsa App Ltd. He isnt connected legally to Socapps. 

Now it turns out that the Stephen Rushworth, the man behind the Crowdcube Socapps campaign , is now the Conservative CC for St Issey and St Trudy -  a post he won in the local elections by a small margin from the LibDems last year. In his register of interests, he mentions Socapps, but it's misspelt; twice. A search under Socapes Ltd comes up blank at CH, which might be useful if you didnt wish people to see its filing history.

We tried to contact all the players in this but as usual we didnt get a response. Honest men dont hide.

All a little odd but that will not come as any help to Crowdcube investors who have yet again been sold a pup by the platform.