Game almost up for Mind Candy, creator of Moshi Monsters
Mind Candy, a company that was once the showpiece start-up of the London tech scene and the creator of the children’s brand Moshi Monsters, will struggle to remain in business if it cannot expand revenue and renegotiate the repayment of a loan from one of its investors, the company and its auditors said Tuesday.
The company saw its revenue cut almost in half to £7.2m (€7.96m) in 2015, according to its annual accounts filed with UK business registry Companies House Tuesday.
Revenue had peaked at just under £47m in 2012.
The company pared its operating losses, in part by cutting a third of its staff, to £10.4m for the year. This was down from £14m in 2014.
However, it also saw its cash position erode from £9m to just under £4m over the same period.
Mind Candy, founded in 2004 by entrepreneur Michael Acton Smith, created the well-known Moshi Monsters brand but had trouble managing the transition from desktop to mobile gaming.
“It’s no surprise that Mind Candy has had a few challenging years,” said Mind Candy’s chief executive officer, Ian Chambers.
“Over the past year, with the continued support of our investors and creditors, we have been focusing development on Petlandia and Moshi Monsters. We will be revealing more on both worlds in due course.”
Mobile gaming revenue —which includes Mind Candy’s World of Warriors product, which it launched in 2014, and new game Petlandia — grew 50% to £3m.
Given its burn rate, the company said it must expand its revenue in order to stay in business or receive a further capital injection.
It also said that it must renegotiate the repayment schedule for a £6.5m loan it received in 2014 from TriplePoint Capital, a Silicon Valley venture firm that had invested in the business.
Repayments on that loan were to begin this summer, but Mind Candy negotiated an extension until January 2017.
Now it says if it cannot secure a further extension it may also be unable to stay in business.
In its filing on Friday, the company said it has “good” relationship with TriplePoint and that “there is scope to further negotiate a new repayments schedule”.
