Pollen
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Pollen was a London events and ticketing company founded in 2014 by brothers Callum and Liam Negus-Fancey. Growing out of peer-to-peer marketing businesses, it worked with music promoters to put together and sell premium travel packages and curated experiences around festivals and shows worldwide. The company was backed by Kindred, Northzone, Backed and Molton Ventures, and raised a $150 million Series C in April 2022.
02 / Pollen FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Pollen fell into administration after failing to find a buyer in a chilly funding environment. Despite the $150 million Series C raised months earlier, the company missed payroll, owed customers refunds for cancelled events, and faced growing debts; founder Callum Negus-Fancey told staff that even companies that had previously tried to buy Pollen for far more no longer considered it a priority. The business had been loss-making since it began trading.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Pollen was founded in London by brothers Callum and Liam Negus-Fancey, growing out of peer-to-peer ticket marketing companies.
- $150M Series C
Pollen announced a $150 million Series C in April 2022, claiming stellar growth despite the pandemic; more than 150 redundancies followed shortly after.
- Administration
In August 2022, parent company StreetTeam Software Limited appointed administrators from Kroll to restructure after failing to sell the company in its entirety.
- BBC documentary
A BBC Three documentary examined the collapse, including allegations about the company's final months.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Administrator Kroll reported that the Pollen group had been loss-making since it began trading, with pre-tax losses of £57.4 million in 2021, £42.7 million in 2020 and £52.4 million in 2019 (about $78.9 million, $58.7 million and $72.1 million respectively).
- 02
At the point of collapse the business owed more than £78.6 million to creditors, including £18.6 million to secured creditor Global Growth Capital and £59.4 million to unsecured creditors.