Adabra disappears in puff of VC smoke

Adabra, a Letsbuyit clone but much smaller, has fallen into the e-byss with debts of £ 800,000. Liquidator Kroll Buchler Phillips is handling the liquidation and has already sold the assets of the business to French-based Dealpartners for £220,000.

Founded in October last year, Adabra's goose was cooked by April, when expected VC money failed to come through. The VCs walked away at the last minute after "being hit by the sudden collapse in dotcom valuations in March", the Evening Standard says. Founder Paul Barnes personally lost £300,000, according to the paper

Dealpartners delivers "marque blanche" (ie. no-name) co-operative buying technology for ISPs to rebrand as their own. Customers in Britain include AltaVista, LineOne and Egg. ®