Koovs, 'India's ASOS,' folded when its controlling shareholder walked from £6.5M

Koovs began as a UK group-buying site and was rebuilt in 2013 into an online fashion retailer, then floated on London's AIM market. Under CEO Mary Turner it repositioned as 'India's ASOS' — Western fashion designed in London, mostly made in India, aimed at style-conscious 15-to-39-year-olds. Turnover reached £19M, growing 87% a year, with break-even promised by the end of 2019.

The growth was bought with losses, and the share price fell from £2.11 to about 40p. Kishore Biyani's Future Group, which had become the largest shareholder through Future Lifestyle Fashions, was supposed to put in another £6.5M ($8.34M). The money never arrived. Unable to find alternative funding, Koovs applied for administration on December 10, 2019.

A one-month competitive sale found no buyer willing to keep the company whole. The business and its UK and Indian assets went to SGIK 3 Investments — a vehicle of chairman Waheed Alli, also the largest secured creditor — as the best offer from a creditors' perspective. Equity investors were wiped out; the promised break-even year arrived with the company gone.