Luke Massie, the founder of Vibe Tickets, claims he was “backed into a corner” and had to put the company into administration.
TheTicketingBusiness reported last week that Massie acquired Vibe Tickets from administrators after funding plans fell through. He has since announced he is giving away shares in the new company to his original crowd investors.
Now, speaking to BusinessCloud, Massie said he was “deeply hurt” at suggestions on social media that he “planned” the outcome, insisting he’d done everything possible to save it.
Before Vibe Tickets went into administration, the business had raised £1.7m from Matt Newing and his company Elite Telecom; ANS Group founder Scott Fletcher MBE; Vela Technologies Plc; and almost 300 investors on Crowdcube.
Massie told BusinessCloud he was “backed into a corner” and had no choice but to place the company in administration – and dismissed claims that it was planned as “ridiculous”.
“It couldn’t have been planned because I had an agreement that £1.6m of funding was coming from shareholders – that’s where all my energy and focus was,” he said.
“The suggestion was that I planned on the company running out of cash to close it down and then buy it back at a fraction of the price of what it’s worth so that I can get rid of all the shareholders so that I’d have 100 per cent of the pie and have a go again.
“No one in their right mind would want to go down this route and to have it portrayed that this was planned…it was anything other than that.
“I’m not hiding and I’ve got nothing to hide.”
BusinessCloud reports that as a result of the administration process, Matt Newing and Elite Telecom, Vela Technologies Plc and Scott Fletcher have reportedly lost £600,000, £400,000 and approximately £500,000 respectively. Both Vela Technologies and Fletcher have agreed to invest in the new business.
Image: Vibe Tickets
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