Cazoo - Voluntary Administration

Cazoo, a London-based online car retailer, entered voluntary administration on 21 May.

Founded in 2018 by serial internet entrepreneur Alex Chesterman and backed by some of the leading global technology investors, the company flourished during the COVID era as consumers could buy, sell or finance a car entirely online with delivery or collection in as little as 72 hours.

In 2021, the company went public with an estimated valuation of more than £5.0 billion, and by 2022 annual turnover had reached £1.3 billion. Despite this growth, however, the company has been unable to achieve profitability and its losses have grown. As a result, the company struggled to attract the additional capital required to stay afloat.

In March 2024 the company announced that it was pivoting to a marketplace business model in an attempt to achieve profitability, but it did not have enough financial runway to see the strategic shift through.

Matthew Mawhinney and David Soden of Teneo were appointed as joint administrators and have stated that the pivoted marketplace model was “performing ahead of expectations, with strong dealer sign-up”, providing “an opportunity to secure a sale of the business over coming weeks.”