@ArmitageJim @premnsikka 1/ @TheFCA’s #Emoney op #Pockit’s survival ‘under threat' unless it secures cash injection. Another client of of Newcastle Building society’s notorious prepaid card unit aka #Wirecard UK ( + the subject of a future expose).
2/ #Pockit, a serial loss-maker, was launched in 2014 by its honcho, the scion of the $billionaire Virraj brothers (who made their bones in Africa & the ‘Wild East’ following the breakup of the FSU) + their now sold offshore $billion personal-care products empire.
3/ Pockit’s clientele, however, couldn’t be more different from that of it’s honcho & the London startup scene - the ‘under-privileged’ & ‘unbanked’. Pockit was seeded by family wealth, early stage by vcs & tapped FCA auth. #Crowdfunding op #CrowdCube with a 8% convertible …
4/ (the UK Govt.’s ‘#FutureFund’ matching the CrowdCube crowdfunding). In total Crunchbase shows Pockit having raised US$40m (£31m) to date. Pockit in 2020/21 opened a Newcastle office (in the ‘hood of Wirecard’s notorious debit card unit, in fact Pockit’s compliance/ops VP …
5/ was allegedly ex Wirecard), tapping EU regional development funding via Maven Capital Partners. Well before #Wirecard’s UK debit card unit (acquired by #PayrNet) went belly up, Pockit had started to become notorious for freezing its client accounts, a trend which has …
6/ continued (bbc.co.uk/news/business-…), culminating last year in ‘Pockit customer forced to send bailiffs in battle for locked funds + rent money’ (fintechfutures.com/2021/05/pockit…). Pockit recently filed its accounts (to 31/12/2020), showing continued high level of losses, repayment …
7/7 of Director loans + the need for more funding to survive. One definitely to keep an eye on as both the Future Fund loan has now converted in to equity & @TheFCA (as always) sleep at the wheel.
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