Emoov’s losses: agency founder Quirk complains to Mail on Sunday

The former chief executive of online agency Emoov has complained to the Mail on Sunday about an article concerning the firm’s collapse.

The Daily Mail yesterday carried a story alleging that debts incurred by Emoov's former owners, said to be up to £15m in the months leading up to the agency going into administration, had not been reported to investors who put around £2m into the company via the crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.

The agency’s former chief executive Russell Quirk said the story was inaccurate because, firstly, the debt was not as great as £15m and, in any case, at least some of the debts were incurred after the crowdfunding exercise - making it impossible for investors to have been informed.

Estate Agent Today reported the story and Quirk's repudiation yesterday, here.

Quirk has told EAT that he was contacted by the Mail regarding the alleged £15m loss, which he said was wholly inaccurate.

He says that following yesterday’s publication he messaged the journalist who wrote the story - Jamie Nimmo - and is going to write to the editor, Ted Verity.

However, the Mail appears to be standing by its story, which remains unchanged on its website.

And yesterday afternoon Jamie Nimmo, the journalist who wrote the story, tweeted: “Emoov was losing around £3m a month while it was raising money on Crowdcube last summer - but it failed to mention anything about losses to potential investors despite talking up revenue growth forecasts (it collapsed a few months later).”

One fact revealed in the story which was not previously in the public domain was the sum paid for Emoov by Mashroom, the online business which bought it earlier this year.

That figure was £232,500 plus VAT.