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Ve Interactive

E-commerce adtech softwareUK
New to Unitard
💀 Dead / Bankrupt
Peak $1.32 BillionToday
~-100%
from peak
  1. 🦄
    Became a unicorn
    Mar 2016
  2. 📈
    Peak valuation
    $1.32 Billion ’16
  3. 💔
    Became a Unitard
    Mar 2017
  4. 💸
    Last valuation
    Wiped out
Capital raised
$64M
Total raised
$22.7K/day
Raised per day

Total raised averaged per day over approximately 7.7 years from founding to bankruptcy or shutdown. This is not measured cash burn. Methodology

Funding: Concha plc RNS (May 2017): shareholders advanced over £50M of equity since 2009 (≈$64M)
Current status
Administration from Apr 25, 2017 (Leeds, creditor application); business and assets sold the same day in a pre-pack to management-led Rowchester Limited, later trading as Ve Global; old company in creditors' voluntary liquidation since Apr 19, 2019

The rise & fall

10 moments · 2009–2019

The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.

Jul 9 ’09
Incorporated in London
Ve Interactive builds tools to recover abandoned online shopping baskets with pop-ups, emails and retargeting ads.
Companies House
Jun 2015
Named one of Europe's unicorns by the FT
Ve reports 2014 revenue of £19.7M and says it serves more than 10,000 clients.
Concha plc
Mar 15 ’16
The peak: a 0.43% stake sells for £4M$1.32B
AIM-listed Concha buys existing shares at £250 each, a price implying about £930M (about $1.32B) for the whole company.
Concha plc
Mar 2017
Emergency £3M cuts the valuation to £300M$370M
Founder David Brown steps down as CEO; the Telegraph reports staff were paid late and revenue never covered the cost of expansion.
The Telegraph (via Yahoo)
Apr 7 ’17
HMRC serves a second winding-up petition
New management had secured at most £13.1M of conditional funding, short of its £20M minimum target.
Concha plc
Apr 25 ’17
Enters administration — joins the Unitard Club 💔
On a creditor's application, Smith & Williamson are appointed administrators; the Telegraph later reports about £50M of debts.
Companies House
Apr 25 ’17
Business sold in a £2M pre-pack$2.56M
Rowchester Limited, whose directors include the incoming management, buys the business and assets, paying in instalments to April 2018.
Concha plc
May 4 ’17
Biggest listed investor writes off its stake
Concha says the collapse eliminated any carrying value of its investment; shareholders had put in over £50M of equity since 2009.
Concha plc
From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2015–17
Glassdoor reviews before the April 2017 administration praised the social office but described ever-changing strategy, favoritism, inexperienced managers and low pay; average ratings fell from about 3.2 in 2015 to about 2.6 in early 2017.
Apr 19 ’19
Old company moves into liquidation
Administration ends and a creditors' voluntary liquidation begins under Deloitte practitioners.
Companies House
$1.32Bof peak value erased · 8 years

💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.

How it happened

Ve Interactive, founded in London in 2009 by David Brown and Steve Clucas, sold e-commerce software that used pop-ups, emails and retargeting ads to win back shoppers who abandoned their online baskets. The Financial Times named it one of Europe's unicorns in June 2015.

Its peak value is implied by a March 2016 deal: Concha paid £4M for 0.43% of its existing shares, which works out to about £930M (roughly $1.32B). The Telegraph reported that revenue, about £40M in 2016, never covered the cost of rapid global expansion.

After Brown stepped down, a £3M emergency injection in March 2017 reportedly valued Ve at £300M. A creditor put it into administration on April 25, 2017, and its business was sold that day for £2M to management-led Rowchester Limited. Average ratings slid from about 3.2 in 2015 to about 2.6 in the months before the collapse.

Source: Concha plc RNS (Mar 15, 2016): £4.0M cash for existing shares bought from existing shareholders at £250/share, equal to 0.43% of Ve's issued capital, implying about £930M (≈$1.32B at about $1.42/£); this is a secondary purchase, not a primary priced round; same RNS notes the FT listed Ve among Europe's unicorns in June 2015 and 2014 revenue of £19.7M. Telegraph via Yahoo (Apr 29, 2017): a £3M emergency injection in March 2017 cut the valuation to £300M; £50M of debts per administrators; 2016 revenue £40M vs £25.6M in 2015 (the paper's £1.5bn earlier figure has no stated basis and is not used). Concha RNS (May 4, 2017): creditor application Apr 24, 2017; administration Apr 25 with Smith & Williamson; pre-pack sale of business and assets to Rowchester Limited for £2M cash in instalments to April 2018; HMRC's second winding-up petition Apr 7; shareholders advanced over £50M of equity since 2009; Concha's stake left with no carrying value. Companies House (06956893): incorporated July 9, 2009; administration Apr 25, 2017 to Apr 19, 2019; creditors' voluntary liquidation from Apr 19, 2019.

Where they went

  • David Brown
    co-founder & CEO (led at peak)
    Not on record
  • Steve Clucas
    co-founder
    Co founder and Director at SmartGen
    LinkedIn ↗

Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-10-22. See our methodology.

Disclosed investors (3)

Historical funding participation; lists may be incomplete and do not establish current ownership or investor losses.

* Lead in a funding round · Crunchbase ↗ · 2026-10-22 · Methodology · Leaderboard

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