Sellaband Not Quite Dead Yet, Waiting For White Knight's Signature

Dutch startup Sellaband, which enabled music fans to invest in their favorite bands, last week on Friday requested provisional suspension of payments in their home country. It was promptly granted by an Amsterdam Court, and was this morning changed into full bankruptcy. The news of the bankruptcy led to a flurry of reports about Sellaband calling it quits for good – or as we like to say, hitting the deadpool.

Now it appears that there’s a chance the startup may live to fight another fight after all.

A message that was very recently posted on the Sellaband website claims that an acquisition of the business is imminent, and merely a matter of a “few technicalities” at this point.

The full note:

On Friday February 19th, SellaBand AG requested provisional suspension of payments (moratorium). This was granted by the Court in Amsterdam on the same day. Yesterday, Monday February 22nd, this moratorium was changed into bankruptcy, with appointment of, Mr Paul Schaink, an amsterdam lawyer, as trustee. The trustee wishes to inform the ‘Sellaband community’ that, apart from a few technicalities, the completion of a transaction with a potential buyer of the business, is to be expected soon, in order to make a fresh start, safeguarding both the rights of Believers and Artists. More news will follow shortly.

On behalf of the trustee,

Johan Vosmeijer
CEO SellaBand

From what I can gather, Sellaband was close to breaking even, after raising $5 million in venture capital back in 2008. That on itself is not an easy feat to accomplish in the cutthroat business of online music and crowdfunding services. If a buyer does step in and manages to reboot operations without too much damage, Sellaband might still have a shot.