Smartwatch firm liquidated with £3m debt

BLOCKS Wearables was founded in London in 2014, looking to design and manufacture a smart watch where users could personalise the strap with modules offering various functionalities such as monitoring heart rate, tracking location or making payments.

The firm had attracted hundreds of investments from across the globe and developed several prototypes, however, internal issues encountered by their hardware and software suppliers hampered production of the product and pushed the firm into financial difficulties.

Craig Povey and Richard Toone, partners at insolvency and restructuring firm CVR Global, were appointed as joint liquidators to complete a company voluntary liquidation of BLOCKS Wearables.

Povey said: “The business’ directors had a cutting-edge product which generated much excitement as seen by their Kickstarter fundraising, but ultimately a series of circumstances beyond their control in the supply chain left the business in a vulnerable state.

“As a result of changing suppliers, the business had to invest a significant amount of money into research and prototypes for the manufacturing process more than once.

The company eventually managed to bring some prototypes to market, but historical costs were too much for the business to carry on trading. As such, some customers have unfulfilled orders.

“This may well not be the last casualty in the wearables market as competition increases, nor for that matter in investments made through the alternative finance arena, as not all investments deliver the anticipated returns,” Povey added.

“Whilst BLOCKS Wearables’ technology promised much and interest was keen, unfortunately due to challenges in the supply chain and difficulties in securing additional funding, the company was left with no alternative than to place itself into liquidation.”