A Newcastle firm once named the best start-up in Britain has been wound up after some of its assets were snapped up by a rival.
Andy Stephenson first launched activity box subscription company Weekend Box in 2013 after looking for gift ideas for his niece and nephew, spotting a gap in the market for presents which could educate, stimulate and occupy young children.
He set about making activity boxes in his bedroom, quickly scaling Weekend Box to an office and two warehouse locations across Newcastle, with boxes being delivered straight to homes once a fortnight, packed with four activities.
Back in 2014 Mr Stephenson was hailed by the then Business Minister Matthew Hancock and ex-Dragon James Caan, the chairman of the Government-backed Start Up Loans Company at the time, when his creative company beat competition from 550 entrants to be named Start-Up of the Year.
Mr Stephenson has now announced that the firm has been acquired by London based children’s publisher First News in a deal which sees all Weekend Box customers migrating over to First Wonder Boxes.
However, First News has only bought the database of customers within the deal, so customers now receive First Wonder Boxes instead of Weekend Boxes, as the firm already has its own fulfilment centre in the south.
As a result, Weekend Box as a company has gone into liquidation, with RSM in Newcastle appointed as liquidators.
It is not known how many people were employed at Weekend Box but Mr Stephenson said he believes everyone the firm had employed had found a new job within two weeks.
Most Read
Similar to Weekend Boxes, the First Wonder Boxes include crafting materials, a toy, stickers, pencil, collectable cards and an activity box full of facts, jokes and puzzles and more. Like the Weekend Box, it also turns into a game, craft or activity.
First Wonder Box is part of First Group Enterprises Ltd, which also owns the award-winning children’s newspaper First News, read by more than 2 million 7 to 14-year-olds every week.
Mr Stephenson said: “We’ve had an incredible journey at Weekend Box and been lucky enough to deliver over a million hours of quality family time to tens of thousands of families across the 海角视频.
“We’ve won multiple awards (like the Start-Up Loans Company of the Year in 2014), featured in a national PR campaign with accounting company Sage and even are mentioned in Richard Branson’s latest book Finding my Virginity.
“It feels like the natural time for me to pass on the reins and start thinking about my next challenge. I wish First News the best of luck as they continue to grow their new box service.”