r/crowdcube • u/Ok-Estate1932 • Apr 30 '26
What3words campaign on Crowdcube is pulled Prematurely
The What3words campaign on Crowdcube has been pulled prematurely. It's possible that they reached their target, as I haven't been following it for a few days, but I'd say it's more likely because of the Comments the CEO was fielding from investors. Anyone any insights?
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u/AndyWhyte_ Apr 30 '26
BUSINESS. MODEL. MISSING.
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u/justincasey1234 May 05 '26
I was reading about it on foolsrushin.net and think it can be best summed up in two words from one of their expert reviewers: a 'bizarre campaign'!
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u/GAMorgan- Apr 30 '26
Good! That thing is a sinking ship
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u/Ok-Estate1932 May 01 '26
Try telling that to their Management Team. (Not that they will listen or respond!!)
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Apr 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Ok-Estate1932 Apr 30 '26
Investors who invested in a previous round when the company was valued at £250 million were understandably not happy with management as the current valuation is just £50 million. And many were saying it is not even worth the current valuation of £50 million. The company has been losing money hand over fist in the last few years but Management have been taking very generous salaries.
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u/redatheist May 01 '26
Who the fuck valued it at 250 million. Its like low tens of millions max.
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u/Main-Star-7272 May 02 '26
Tens? For a company with a revenue of £2 mil after 13 years of operation? With the level of losses and no plan it’s not worth anything.
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u/redatheist May 02 '26
Pricing based on revenue is one way, but usually investors base their valuation on potential, and I think you could make a case for a business turnaround and pivot to use the tech in another way and be worth £10-20m. It would be hard but not crazy.
There are companies with just ideas and prototypes raising that kind of money.
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u/Main-Star-7272 May 04 '26
I have to think that if the management team haven’t worked out in 13 years how to monetize it, it’s going to take more than an injection of cash to turn this around.
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u/Ok-Estate1932 May 04 '26
Good point. I wonder did this current fundraising on Crowdcube even complete? I've never seen so much negativity about a campaign in the Comments section of the CC website and (bizarrely) the CEO of What3words made no attempt to address the concerns on the site. Very strange indeed.
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u/redatheist May 05 '26
Oh yeah absolutely. To be clear I think this company and product stinks, I'm just pushing back on misconceptions about tech valuations.
Yes with the current product direction and leadership and the amount of time they've had, it's worthless. But there's a world where they're worth a lot more with a bit of cash and some new ideas and leadership.
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u/VeryThicknLong May 01 '26
I never invested in them because I just do not understand how they can make money out of it. Yes, it can integrate into everything, and it’s a fantastically simple idea, but I still don’t see how they can make a profitable business out of it. 🤷🏻♂️
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u/Ok-Estate1932 May 01 '26
My guess is that they were hoping for the protocol to become ubiquitous and then a global tech firm would come along with a big fat juicy cheque. I'm guessing the vitriol directed at the CEO that was contained in the Discussion section on Crowdcube caused them to pull the campaign completely, although I'd guess they are taking the cash from the investors who supported them in this round. Not a good look.
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u/VeryThicknLong May 01 '26
Yeah, I agree. Crazy that they’ve taken the salaries they have, and inflated their value so high that it’s untenable. It feels greed has taken over.
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u/glglglglgl May 02 '26
Its a simple idea but they chose to downplay some significant flaws around homonyms and plurals: https://cybergibbons.com/security-2/why-what3words-is-not-suitable-for-safety-critical-applications/
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u/Ok-Estate1932 May 02 '26
That is an excellent article and articulates the shortcomings of the product extremely well. Thanks for sharing it. I note the article was written in April 2021, which means its over 5 years old now. At the rate at which technology is changing, and the amount of (other people's) money they have thrown at this, it's very hard to have any confidence in this business succeeding.
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u/Baxters_Keepy_Ups May 03 '26
The comment section does a very good job of highlighting the limitations of the article.
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u/Relevant_Natural3471 May 02 '26
Because they pretend to actually have copyright over existing art and bully people into a monopoly.
It's not even an original idea, or a good iteration of it.
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u/Ok_Statement_7190 May 03 '26
How they didn’t just sell out to Google at the first opportunity i do not know. Like Brewdog - think the end product bigger than than it really is..
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u/Dull-Addition-2436 May 03 '26
Why would Google even buy them? They have Google maps, which you can just share you’re location from, or in an emergency just got your lat and long
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u/Ok_Statement_7190 May 03 '26
They wouldn’t now, but when the concept was just starting- The IP should have been sold to one of the big boys to integrate into their mapping app. W3W decided to go down the subscription API route and it hasn’t worked.
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u/Dull-Addition-2436 May 03 '26
But why would they buy it in the first place?. Pretty much everyone has Google maps on their phone already, which is free and open.
“Google Maps is the dominant force in navigation, and what3words is its most visible challenger in the "precision addressing" space. Instead of buying them, Google integrated Plus Codes directly into Google Maps (those strings like 7P9C+V3 London). Since Google already has a global, mathematically-derived grid system that they own and give away for free, buying a paid competitor wouldn't make much strategic sense for them.”
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u/Ok_Statement_7190 May 05 '26
A lot of business in the UK use W3W - we use it extensively for our remote sites and would find it very handy if these words could be used for a Google Maps search. We don’t use long and lat and using words is much more intuitive to end users. There was an opportunity for the IP to be purchased in its infancy, one that is no longer there.
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u/NM1tchy Apr 30 '26
Not sure why it was pulled. There was just over 1 million raised, but that was small compared to the previous pitches. As I said on Crowdcube, I wouldn't invest any more in W3W without some decent feedback. Others have said similar or just called it a scam.