Winely, founded by Jacob Manning and Abbe Hyde, was incorporated in 2018 to develop and manufacture technology to provide real-time fermentation analysis to the wine industry.
Two years later it closed a capital funding round of $2m, but in November last year was put into liquidation with total liabilities estimated at more than $2.2m.
That included repayment of a $400,000 loan from a government research and development agency.
The liquidation was completed last week.
Liquidator Andrew McKay, of BDO Auckland, confirmed no payments were made to any class of creditor during the course of the liquidation.
The total amount still owed to creditors included secured claims of $260,000 and unsecured claims of $1,895,727, although the liquidators had only received proofs of debt for $474,282 from unsecured creditors, Mr McKay said.
An ex-employee, who declined to be named, said they worked at Winely for about a year before being made redundant less than one month before Christmas.
They had already been hit with a 20% pay cut about a month prior.
The debt level came as no surprise and it was frustrating the company was able to keep trading for so long.
‘‘Hopefully the founders, Abbe and Jacob, aren't able to run a business again so they can't put people in this position again.’’
A lot of promises were made but the writing was on the wall, the ex-employee said.
The product's fail rate was also really high.
They understood the first 100 probes that went into the wine vats to collect data failed, despite the company already ordering parts to build 3000.
The company also targeted the biggest wineries in California for testing rather than sticking to their backyard in Central Otago.
‘‘They wanted it to be all big and wonderful without actually proving the concept.’’
Henry Greenslade, another ex-employee, said the outcome was a shame.
He worked at Winely for 16 months and most of the money went towards ‘‘wages and dreaming’’.
‘‘It got very tight towards the end,’’ Mr Greenslade said.
‘‘There was one point where I needed to purchase some more refreshments, so just biscuits and a loaf of bread and coffee and tea bags, and the card declined on me due to insufficient funds.
‘‘I was a wee bit concerned at that stage whether or not I was going to continue to be paid for my work.’’
There had not seemed to be much of a pipeline towards generating revenue and they never really made it out of the prototype stage.
It did not help that Mr Manning and Ms Hyde were essentially running the company out of Australia, he said.
‘‘There was always a big deal coming around the corner that never happened.’’
Among the creditors was Callaghan Innovation, which was being disestablished.
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment grants director Spencer Willis said a $400,000 loan was provided by Callaghan Innovation to Winely in 2020.
The company still owed $460,128.09, including interest.
‘‘We acknowledge that sometimes these companies go into liquidation due to unforeseen circumstances.’’
The liquidators’ final report said they sought valuation of assets at the company’s former New Zealand premises.
‘‘In the opinion of the valuer, the cost of recovery and sale of the assets would have substantially outweighed any potential realisable value in the items.
‘‘Given the costs of identifying and recovering company assets located both locally and offshore, the liquidators determined that such recovery action was not economic and it was decided that the assets should be disclaimed.’’
Ms Hyde did not respond to a request for comment before deadline and attempts to reach Mr Manning failed.
