The company, Killing Kittens, is known for its ‘members-only hedonistic events’ in major cities around the world, including London and New York and has also developed an adult-only social network
Representational image. @killingkittens_/Instagram
British taxpayers are now officially shareholders in Killing Kittens, a startup that throws sex parties.
According to a report by CNN, a government loan provided to Killing Kittens to help it through the pandemic has converted into an equity stake in the company, the British Business Bank confirmed on Tuesday.
What is Killing Kittens?
Killing Kittens was set up in 2005 by Emma Sayle, a school friend of the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, according to The Guardian.
The company is known for its “members-only hedonistic events” in major cities around the world including London and New York and has also developed an adult-only social network.
As per The Guardian report, Killing Kittens has 180,000 members and an annual turnover of ?1.4m, of which about 80 per cent comes from the UK.
The company says on its website that its events challenge “established gender stereotypes”.
It recorded a 330 per cent growth in traffic to its website during coronavirus lockdowns, and now calls itself “the fastest-growing adult social network.”
Its social network app allows users to meet each other “for casual dating, friendship, kink partners or a long-term relationship”.
How did British citizens become shareholders in it?
At the peak of the COVID pandemic, the UK government set up the taxpayer-backed British Business Bank’s Future Fund to help startups survive the difficult times. As per The Guardian, about ?1.14bn has been spent to support 1,190 companies.
Killing Kittens too secured the investment in 2020 from the UK government’s Future Fund.
The company was valued at ?5m in 2018 and ?10m in 2019. According to the Financial Times, which first reported the investment, the sextech firm raised ?1m in its latest funding round, which valued the business at about ?15m, with the government owning a 1.5 per cent share in it.
“The government has already made its money back on the investment,” she said.
According to a CNN report, the government’s Future Fund previously awarded the company a loan of ?170,000. The program, which is funded from tax revenue, typically provides debt financing of between ?125,000 and ?5 million to companies, subject to them at least matching the funding from private investors.
As per The Guardian, more than 335 of the businesses the government has invested in have had their loans converted into equity stakes.
“However, more than three dozen companies to have benefited from funding were found by the Times in April to be in the process of liquidation, at a potential cost of ?40m of taxpayer money.”
The Future Fund has also invested in an eclectic range of businesses, including a cannabis oil company, a London-based craft beer brewer, the football club Bolton Wanderers, the Black Sheep Coffee chain and the company that co-invented the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccination.
With inputs from agencies
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.