Auckland-based online grocery business Supie has been placed in voluntary administration by its owner.
It has been placed under administration due to a critical investor stopping its funding of the business, leaving it with approximately NZ$3 million in debt.
PWC voluntary administrator Richard Nacey explained that the company, which employed 120 people, has run out of cash. Nacey continued that it was too soon to indicate whether the company owed money to its employees.
This news comes despite the reasonable and substantial growth Supie has experienced over the last 12 months. Nacey explained that this growth had almost flat-lined over the last couple of months, and it has simply not reached the scale that it needed to operate profitably.
Supie intended to introduce more competition to the grocery industry since it was set up two and a half years ago. However, it has struggled to achieve the scale necessary to be competitive and profitable.
Earlier this year, it said it was under pressure from suppliers to raise its prices.
