Clickmango.com, a health and beauty web site launched 3 months
ago, has been forced to wind up after its founders failed to raise
additional funding of £300,000 to keep it afloat, despite being
under-budget and over its sales target.
The company was backed by actress Joanna Lumley and founded by
Robert Norton and Toby Rowland, son of business tycoon Tiny
Rowland. When it first looked for funding, it secured the required
£3 million in just 8 days.
Referring to the recent demise of Boo.com, Robert Norton said:
“This is not Boo two. We still have money in the bank and we have
not spent a fortune on advertising. We have made the decision to
wind down the company in a responsible fashion to make sure
creditors and staff can get full payment.”
Another UK company, Adabra.com, which launched a group-buying
service in October 1999, has also been forced to sell its business
in the midst of consolidation in the dot.com sector. The company
said it had also decided to wind down operations while there was
still funding left to do so in an orderly way.
Adabra.com co-founder Nigel Jones said: “It has been difficult
to get funding. Our board decided this was the best way to go for
everyone, the board, the employees. The employees were our main
concern.”
Jones acknowledged that there were too many companies in the
group-buying marketplace, an internet retail business model in
which the price of an item goes down as more people sign up to
purchase it. Jones believes that the surviving companies in this
field in the European market will be Letsbuyit.com, the US start-up
mobshop.com and Dealpartners Network. The latter has bought the
Adabra.com assets and Jones is joining the company as European
marketing director.
