'Wilful fraud': The search for StrongRoom AI's missing millions
The extraordinary series of events that led a startup to collapse just weeks after it raised millions of dollars have now been detailed.
When Misha Saul got wind of the news that the chief financial officer of StrongRoom AI had resigned, alarm bells must have started ringing.
Only two weeks earlier, Saul, an outspoken and polarising figure on social media, led a $10 million investment into the seven-year-old medtech, which creates software that pharmacists use to track prescription medicine.
It was Saul's first deal since he'd jumped ship from Potentia Capital to EVP eight months earlier to lead its new Opportunities Fund. The departure of Jacqueline Hasler, an experienced startup CFO who had joined Strongroom AI barely two months earlier, did not send a good signal.
Now, three weeks later, StrongRoom AI has collapsed into administration after an extraordinary series of events that have captivated the startup ecosystem. They include EVP calling in the police to investigate the startup, a Federal Court freezing order over its assets, and legal threats flying in all directions.
