Kokoba, the parent company of pet product etailers MedicAnimal and Pet Supermarket, has filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator.
The directors of Kokoba filed the notice of intention on July 31 and its MedicAnimal.com and Pet-Supermarket.co.uk websites are not trading at present.
A notice of intention is a document filed with a court that prevents creditors from pursuing legal action while giving the business 10 days to seek a solution to avert an administration.
MedicAnimal and its founder and chief executive Ivan Retzignac did not respond to requests for comment.
Taylor Wessing, the law firm representing the business, declined to comment.
MedicAnimal’s income rose from £1.1m in 2007 to £75m in 2013.
A message on the MedicAnimal website says it is down because “we are extremely popular at the minute and unfortunately you may not be able to access our site temporarily”.
Meanwhile, the Pet-Supermarket.co.uk website said it was down for “scheduled maintenance”.
Orders not delivered
Users on Moneysavingexpert.com said products bought in the last week have not been delivered and the phone lines are also down, while emails are going unanswered.
MedicAnimal was founded in 2007 by former-Goldman Sachs broker Retzignac and vet Andrew Bucher and has expanded by acquiring competitors including Pet Supermarket and Petmeds.
Balderton Capital, which also invested in Wonga and Betfair, and Iris Capital invested £10m in MedicAnimal in 2012 in a Series C round. It is not known whether they are still involved with the business.
Funding allowed MedicAnimal to acquire Petmeds for a “single millions” figure.
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