Kaddy Group, an ASX-listed company, has entered voluntary administration, with Wexted Advisors appointed as administrators. Wexted Advisors, an independent and specialised advisory firm that assists clients facing or exposed to business challenges based in Sydney, said that it was looking to sell the business as a going concern or recapitalisation by a deed of a company arrangement.
Kaddy Group was a business-to-business technology platform, aimed at beverage suppliers who sought an end-to-end supply chain solution. One of the main divisions of the company was the marketplace, which connected suppliers with buyers. Kaddy also offered services of warehousing, inventory management, and nationwide delivery. Wexted Advisors partner, Rajiv Goyal said the business was unprofitable, hence why operations were ceased.
A meeting has been scheduled for the first creditors, with 31 personnel expressing interest in buying company assets.
Kaddy was founded by Mike Abbott and Rich Coombes. Abbott is also the co-founder of Uber in Australia, whilst Coombes is also the founder of Batlow Cider and Capital Brewing. The company was funded by investors in 2020 for $3.5 million, including investments from SpringCapital, KTM Ventures, and notable restaurant entrepreneur John Szangolies.
WineDepot acquired the business for $34 million in October, 2021. The parent company of Wine Depot is ASX-listed Digital Wine Ventures (DW8,) of which Abbott became a board member of, whilst Coombes stayed on as the head of Kaddy’s commercial operations. Abbott stepped down from this position in March of this year.
The company ended business-to-consumer sales last year, and was exclusively a business-to-business provider. The new CEO of Kaddy, Steve Voorma, said that the company was generating good growth momentum, in particular Kaddy Marketplace.
"[Kaddy Marketplace] has significant scalability across the industry with a growing base of 3300 buyers and the 2800 brands it represents," said Voorma.
