“Shell-shocked”: Australian AI marketing firm Metigy has entered administation, losing 75 employees

Staff at Australian tech startup Metigy say they are “shell-shocked” by the news of its administration, a move which has impacted 75 employees and appeared to take industry onlookers by surprise.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission states Metigy has entered external administration, and The Australian Financial Review reports Simon Cathro and Andrew Blundell of Cathro Partners were appointed as administrators on Friday.

Staff at Metigy, a company promising AI-backed marketing solutions for small businesses and franchisees, say they were only informed of the collapse on Monday.

“We’re pretty shell-shocked,” senior brand and content lead Claire Riley said in a LinkedIn post addressing the news.

“It’s not because we didn’t care enough or because we did a bad job or the market conditions weren’t in our favour — and that will always be the toughest thing to deal with when you work as hard as we did.”

“It’s heartbreaking to have our journey cut short so early, when I could see that we were turning a corner with the product in the last few months and what was coming up in the next few months,” said product leader Akhila Bhatt.

SmartCompany has contacted Metigy for comment.

Founded in 2015 by David Fairfull and Johnson Lin, Sydney-based Metigy provided an all-in-one marketing platform tailored for the needs of SMEs.

The Metigy platform includes video creation and image editing systems, a live ad creation tool, and a ‘marketing command center’ providing “recommendations tailored to your brand”.

The company completed a $20 million raise in 2020, a move it said would empower its growth in the United States and southeast Asia.

AFR reports the company was planning further fundraising activities as little as two months ago, with some investors recently describing the market value of Metigy as anywhere between $500 million and $1 billion.

The company appears to have been on a growth trajectory, according to staff.

Metigy’s growth team acquired around 38,000 users “from a base of just a few thousand”, said head of growth marketing David Weinberger in his own LinkedIn post.

Despite the administration and the knock-on effects for 75 employees, Metigy’s website says the company is still hiring.

The company’s Twitter account was still posting updates as of Tuesday morning.

New week, new month, what are your tips for keeping calm on a Monday? 🚀📓☕

— Metigy (@metigy) July 31, 2022

More to come.