London-based healthy food delivery startup Pronto reportedly shut down after running out of funds. The company took to Seedrs in May and secured £838,620 to expand its delivery area to cover the central part of the city and although it recently announced its partnership with Starship Technologies to use self-driving robots for its food deliveries, Pronto has suddenly disappeared.
Last week, the Pronto team revealed on the company’s social media website some promising news:
We’re taking a short break to work on some new exciting features. Stay tuned!
— Pronto (@feedmepronto) September 1, 2016
Unfortunately, the company’s founder, James Poulter announced to investors he and his team made the decision to shut down Pronto. He shared:
“To be honest, there was hardly a decision; there was no choice. It was now our only option. As, over the last week we have had all fundraising options fall through. And now it would be wrongful for us to continue trading. We have had very lofty goals for this business. Goals that we knew, and have been clear, required significant funding to allow us to execute.”
Poulter notably apologized for the company’s failure and wrote:
“I am writing this to an overwhelming portion of individuals who know my team or I, personally, and I can only again reiterate how much we thank you for your trust.”
Confirming Pronto’s failure, founder and CEO of Seedrs, Jeff Lynn, revealed in a statement to The Truth About Equity Crowdfunding:
“Pronto raised money on Seedrs earlier this year in a round led by prominent institutional investors Seedcamp and Playfair Capital. As planned, the Pronto team invested the funds into a hyper-growth strategy, but unfortunately despite their hard work they have had to make the difficult decision to cease trading. It is always unfortunate when a company fails, but failure is a common part of early-stage ventures due to their nature.”
Lynn went on to add:
“Alongside Seedcamp and Playfair Capital, Seedrs will work with the business to ensure any remaining assets are distributed to shareholders and those investors with eligible EIS investments are able to claim their tax relief. We will as always keep Seedrs investors informed throughout the process.”
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