Powa Technologies, once a darling of the UK tech scene, collapses into administration
Summary
Powa Technologies once one of the UK's most valued tech companies which allowed users to do things such as bypass entering card details when making a purchase online has gone into administration.This comes after it was revealed that the company had recently missed payments to staff and suppliers, has debts of £11.5m and only £175,000 in the bank not nearly enough to keep them afloat particularly with being a London based business; being based in the capital is expensive! The company had been struggling since 2013 when they only managed to raise £76m in a funding round - however this approach is a move that was welcomed by then PM David Cameron as contributing to economic recovery. In February of this year, though the company went under. Powa Technologies did have some major clients that used their services though such as JD Sports, Adidas, Laura Ashley, Argos and L'Oreal.
Key Statistics
- 311 jobs at risk
- Claimed to be worth $2.7bn (£1.9bn)
- Founded in 2007
- Only raised £76m from funding round in 2013
- Reportedly raised £175m in total and was eyeing a stock market flotation as recently as last year
My Opinion
From what I've read about Powa technologies I think that they tried to grow to quickly. They spent and spent without looking at how they could pay money back or even make a good return on the business moves that they were making. The company had a clear goal of "....positioning ourselves as the leader in mobile payments. That’s a win for Britain” but I just do not think they had a clear strategy of how to make this goal a reality. They were trying to become a big well-renounced company to early. I think that Powa technologies were trying to develop with technology changes but went a few steps faster and then were left with nothing to use as the base of their ideas that they would be pitching to companies and the public and therefore companies and the public had no reason to invest their time, money (companies) and attention in such technology when they can just enter their card information manually when making a purchase.A clearly plan of attack I reckon could have prevented the company's administration for a bit longer. If I was a company owner then I think I would have invested but with knowing clearly what it will bring for my customers in the long run.
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