Investors face a wipeout as former tech star Blur Group scrambles for cash

A former AIM tech star, which once claimed to be “reinventing commerce”, today warned shareholders could be wiped out if it fails to secure emergency funding.

Blur Group, whose online marketplace allows companies to list and pitch for business contracts, revealed it was considering other funding options amid a lack of cash.

This would protect creditors but could result in “the value attributable to shareholders being severely reduced or becoming nil”.

It added it had held talks with potential cornerstone investors but said the terms included “onerous conditions” it said “were not in the best interests of shareholders”.

Blur’s shares plummeted 5.3p, or 62%, to 3.5p, valuing it at less than £2 million, a fraction of its near-£400 million value in 2013 when founder and chief executive Philip Letts sold shares for £3.6 million.

Its stock market run unravelled shortly after in a series of revenue warnings as it confessed to having booked in revenues for contracts before they had been paid — in some cases they never were — leading to a reprimand from the Financial Reporting Council.