Vashi, the upmarket jewelry retailer, has gone bust simply months after searching for new funding at a valuation of £250m.
Sky News has learnt that insolvency practitioners from Teneo Restructuring had been appointed this week as joint liquidators of Vashi’s holding firm.
Insiders stated the appointment adopted a winding-up petition filed by Canary Wharf Group, one in every of Vashi’s retail landlords.
Vashi trades from 4 shops and is claimed to make use of about 200 folks.
The firm was based by Vashi Dominguez, who opened his first retailer on London’s Piccadilly in 2016.
In an announcement, Teneo stated it had been appointed “by the Secretary of State following the making of a winding-up order”.
“The intention of the liquidators is to locate and preserve assets of the business for the benefit of creditors.”
A property business supply stated that Canary Wharf Group had been behind the petition and had been backed by greater than dozen collectors.
‘Insufficient funding’
Another supply stated the appointment of liquidators implied there was inadequate funding within the enterprise to allow it to commerce via a standard administration.
Last 12 months Vashi launched into a £75m fundraising which it stated was to facilitate its growth into the US.
An investor deck circulated on the time, it stated was aiming to safe the cash at a £250m valuation or 6 occasions its 2021 earnings earlier than curiosity, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
It was unclear how massive any recoveries is likely to be for collectors.
Sources stated it had been making an attempt to lift important sums of cash for a while.
According to the corporate’s web site, its traders included “the founders and CEOs of major global brands, managing partners at private equity firms, and several family offices”.
JamJar Investments, the enterprise capital agency arrange by the founders of Innocent Drinks, is among the many firm’s shareholders.
Calls unanswered
Richard Reed, one of many Innocent entrepreneurs behind JamJar, was named in Vashi’s investor presentation as a model advisor.
“Vashi has the potential to do to the jewellery establishment what Airbnb did to hotels – upturn the current consumer proposition, give a better, more authentic personal experience, create an entirely new and better way,” Mr Reed was quoted as saying.
It boasted that it had seen tenfold gross sales development between 2016 and 2019 and had been ranked twenty sixth within the 2019 Sunday Times checklist of Britain’s fastest-growing non-public firms.
Mr Dominguez was a regional winner within the accountancy agency EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year awards in 2021, the corporate’s web site stated.
Vashi couldn’t be reached for touch upon Wednesday, whereas calls to its customer support line had been met with a message saying the enterprise was closed.
Source: information.sky.com”