Freeze on start-up founder’s $10m Mosman mansion after business collapses

A Sydney entrepreneur’s house has been caught up in the collapse of his start-up after two separate freezes were placed on his $10.5 million Mosman mansion.

Marketing technology company Metigy abruptly collapsed in July, leaving its 75 staff stunned. Some employees had been recruited only a month before the collapse and the company was still advertising jobs when it went into administration at the behest of investors. Metigy, which was co-founded by entrepreneur David Fairfull, raised $20 million in 2020 and was reportedly trying to raise capital earlier this year at a valuation of $1 billion.

The Australian Financial Review was first to report on the company’s collapse into administration, which it said was triggered by investors eager to see a full audit of Metigy’s finances.

Last week, some investors went further. On Monday, entities associated with investment funds Five V Capital and Regal Funds Management engaged lawyers at Allens to lodge a caveat over Fairfull’s Mosman property. On Tuesday, Metigy’s administrators had their lawyers, Addisons, lodge a similar caveat.

The six-bedroom, five-bathroom trophy home with expansive harbour views was sold in September last year to Fairfull, and a woman who appears to be his wife, legal records show.

At the time, Metigy was riding high with tens of millions banked from investors who believed in its plans to use artificial intelligence to improve digital marketing and its partnerships with web giant Google and telecommunications network Optus.

On its website and in media stories, Metigy spruiked a “reseller partnership” in which the telecommunications giant would offer Metigy’s marketing products to its more than 400,000 small business clients.

In response, an Optus spokesman issued a brief statement on Monday saying that it had facilitated networking opportunities for Australian start-ups and small businesses in 2018. “Metigy participated, but as of today there is no active contractual arrangements,” the spokesman said.