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# Cazoo
- URL: https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/graveyard/cazoo/
- Published: 2026-10-21T11:10:10.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-21T11:29:52.000Z
- Description: Online used-car retailer once worth $8bn; Teneo administration, brand sold to Motors.co.uk, May 2024
- Author: Editorial Desk
- Tags: #ep-grave

✝ Startup · Administration · 21 May 2024 

Online used-car retailer once worth $8bn; Teneo administration, brand sold to Motors.co.uk, May 2024

Companies House

[11624245](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11624245?ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk) · In Administration

How it ended

Administration

Ended

21 May 2024

Founded

2018

Sector

E-commerce & Retail

Based in

London

Funding raised

£180M

Backed by

dmg ventures, Eight Roads Ventures, Stride.VC, General Catalyst, Mubadala Capital, Octopus Ventures

Last known website

[cazoo.co.uk](https://www.cazoo.co.uk/?ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk)

Last checked

21 October 2026

## What happened

Cazoo, founded by Alex Chesterman in 2018, sold used cars entirely online with home delivery, raising £180m from investors including DMG Ventures, General Catalyst and Mubadala before launch and within its first 18 months, then listing on the New York Stock Exchange in August 2021 through a SPAC merger at a valuation of around $8bn. It spent heavily on marketing, sports sponsorship, logistics and European expansion while losses rose from £103m in 2020 to £329m in 2021; rising interest rates and 2022 stock shortages squeezed margins. A $630m debt-for-equity swap in late 2023 handed control to bondholders, and in early 2024 the company cut about 700 jobs and pivoted to a marketplace model. On 21 May 2024 Cazoo Holdings Limited, Cazoo Ltd and Cazoo Properties Limited entered administration with David Soden and Matthew Mawhinney of Teneo. Motors.co.uk bought the Cazoo brand and website in June 2024.

## Why

- Scaled too early
- Cost of capital / unit economics
- Macro / market conditions

## What happened to the assets, customers and team

Motors.co.uk acquired the Cazoo brand, website and technology (administrators booked £2.63m plus £2.4m deferred) and relaunched cazoo.co.uk as a marketplace in April 2025; the wholesale arm went to G3 and some assets to Constellation Automotive. Teneo's report listed £259m owed to 10,107 creditors; Cazoo Ltd was renamed CL 1 Realisations Ltd and the administration was extended by the High Court to May 2028.

## In their words

> the associated costs outpaced revenue generation, resulting in substantial losses.
> 
> Teneo, joint administrators' report · [source](https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/motors-paid-up-to-5m-for-cazoo-brand-after-online-car-dealers-directors-tried-desperately-to-sell-it-off/305956?ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk)

> it is in the best interests of the Company and its stakeholders to commence the winding up of the Company
> 
> Cazoo Group Ltd, board statement in SEC Form 6-K · [source](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1859639/000121390024045404/ea0206593-6k%5Fcazoo.htm?ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk)

> The model was flawed from day one
> 
> David Kendrick, partner, UHY Hacker Young · [source](https://www.cityam.com/?p=2176044&ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk)

## Lessons

Cheap capital let Cazoo buy growth through marketing, sponsorship and inventory before unit economics worked, and the administrators concluded costs outpaced revenue throughout. When interest rates rose, used-car demand and the company's ability to refinance fell together. The pivot to an asset-light marketplace came too late to be funded.

## Backed by

- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/05/a4/05a4a052-18ab-4836-8924-ec8b322c371c/content/images/2026/10/dmg-ventures-logo.png)dmg ventures](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/investors/dmg-ventures/)
- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/05/a4/05a4a052-18ab-4836-8924-ec8b322c371c/content/images/2026/10/eight-roads-ventures-logo.svg)Eight Roads Ventures](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/investors/eight-roads-ventures/)
- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/05/a4/05a4a052-18ab-4836-8924-ec8b322c371c/content/images/2026/10/stride-vc-logo.png)Stride.VC](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/investors/stride-vc/)

## Sources

1. [find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11624245?ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk)
2. [sec.gov](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1859639/000121390024045404/ea0206593-6k%5Fcazoo.htm?ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk)
3. [willkie.com](https://www.willkie.com/news/2024/07/willkie-advises-motors-on-acquisition-of-cazoo-brand?ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk)
4. [cardealermagazine.co.uk](https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/motors-paid-up-to-5m-for-cazoo-brand-after-online-car-dealers-directors-tried-desperately-to-sell-it-off/305956?ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk)
5. [cityam.com](https://www.cityam.com/?p=2176044&ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk)
6. [financierworldwide.com](https://www.financierworldwide.com/cazoo-enters-administration?ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk)
7. [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/23/cazoo-the-used-car-sales-portal-raises-another-116m/?ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk)

✓ Verified by EP+ Every Graveyard entry is checked against Companies House and the sources above, and re-checked periodically. Spotted an error or a company that has been rescued? [Tell us](mailto:info@entrepreneurplus.co.uk?subject=Graveyard%20correction%3A%20Cazoo).

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