Online supermarket Supie has gone into voluntary administration owing an estimated $3 million after one of its key investors pulled funding.
Richard Nacey and Stephen White of PwC New Zealand were appointed voluntary administrators of Supie Limited, Workerly Limited and Bevie Limited on Monday by the director Sarah Balle.
Supie was set up in 2021 with the aim of creating more competition in the grocery sector and providing Kiwis with access to affordable healthy food. The company has approximately 120 employees.
Voluntary Administrator Richard Nacey said Balle made the decision after a key investor pulled funding.
"The sole director of the three companies made the decision to appoint administrators following a key investor ceasing to continue providing funding to the business," Nacey said.
"This resulted in the business facing cash flow difficulties. While sales have rapidly grown over the last calendar year, recent growth has been lower than expected, and insufficient to provide the scale needed to operate profitably in what is a highly competitive industry.
"As Voluntary Administrators, we don’t have sufficient funding to continue to trade the business in administration. In the absence of securing funding, we expect to be seeking to have the three companies in the Group placed into liquidation in the near future."
Nacey said while PwC is yet to establish the full extent of creditor claims across the Group, initial estimates suggest they will be in the vicinity of $3 million.
Supie's social media accounts have all been deleted.
