VibePay

VibePay was a Lancaster-founded payments app that let consumers, content creators and businesses pay and get paid directly from bank accounts using open banking, growing out of founder Luke Massie's earlier Vibe Tickets venture. Candy Ventures, Nick Candy's investment vehicle, was its largest shareholder. In 2025 Bank of America-backed Banked agreed to acquire the business, but the deal did not complete; reports linked the collapse of the sale to due-diligence findings, which neither party confirmed. Massie left as a director in December 2025 and the remaining investors ran a strategic review, after which they declined to commit further capital. Around 30 staff were made redundant during 2025 and a further ten shortly before the end. Shareholders passed a winding-up resolution on 24 February 2026 and creditors' voluntary liquidators from Begbies Traynor were appointed the same day.

Paul Appleton and Paul Cooper of BTG Begbies Traynor (London) LLP were appointed joint liquidators on 24 February 2026 by members and creditors. The business ceased trading; no buyer for the assets had been reported by April 2026.

A signed acquisition is not a closed one: VibePay's survival hinged on the Banked deal and there was no funded fallback when it fell through in diligence. Once the founder had gone and the lead investor's review found no case for more capital, the company had no runway left to seek another buyer.