Maistro

Maistro PLC
Public
Traded as LSE: MAIS
Founded 2007
Headquarters Exeter, UK
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Laurence Cook (CEO), Mark O'Shea (CTO)
Services Cloud-based Procurement-as-a-Service
Revenue $4.72m (2014)
Website maistro.com

Maistro PLC is a UK-based company which provides an online marketplace for businesses seeking vetted service providers.[1][2]

Services

Organizations can use the Maistro platform for spot purchasing or as a company-wide sourcing and delivery system. Organizations buying services through Maistro, submit project briefs to the Marketplace. All service providers in the Marketplace are vetted by Maistro before being given access to project briefs,[3] and approved service providers respond with a proposal that outlines how they can best meet the project requirements.

The pitch process is blind: service providers do not know who the client is and must pitch solely on information available in the brief. Once the pitch deadline has passed, the blur team reviews the pitches and presents the top three providers to the client.[4] The client then selects the winning candidate and the project begins.[5]

Maistro manages the client/provider relationship for the duration of the project; all communications and invoicing is completed through Maistro's cloud-based workspace.

History

Formerly Blur Group PLC, the company was founded in 2007 and was based in Exeter Science Park, Exeter, in the UK.[6]. Its early service offerings included a b2b exchange, b-uncut.net, focused initially on the media and creative industries.[7]

Under the leadership of CEO Philip Letts (formerly CEO of Beenz.com), an investment round in Q4 2011 attracted investment from Archie Norman, among others.[8][9]

In 2012, the company claimed its 1,200th project,[10] and went public on the London Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in October 2012.[11][12]

In 2013, Blur raised $11.5m in a secondary round of financing[13] and opened an office in Dallas, Texas,[14] followed by raising a further $22m in May 2014.[15] Also in 2014, it claimed the third iteration of its platform was being adopted faster than anticipated.[16] In 2015, it claimed it had 65,000 service providers.[17]

Financial reporting concerns

In 2014, Blur Group's stock price fell due to concerns regarding how revenue was reported. This came to light after a profit warning was released, indicating that multiple projects valued at over $100,000 were delayed until the next quarter, resulting in an 80% plunge in stock prices over previous year.[18] Blur issued four profit warnings between January 2014 and May 2015, and had to replace three CFOs in two years.[19]

An investigation led by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) was initiated to determine if Blur Group was the principal or agent with regards to the outsourcing services provided. The investigation concluded in September 2015, with the FRC welcoming the actions[20] taken by the Blur Group directors, which included making a prior year restatement to reduce reported revenues[21] and increase loss before taxes, as well as clarify the organisation's revenue recognition accounting policy.

Further financial reporting problems led to the company's shares being suspended in June 2017,[22] and reports that Blur could go into administration.[23]

Leadership changes

In July 2017, the company replaced its entire board.[24] After Letts left the company on 1 August 2017 (having presided over a share price plunge from a 2014 high of 665p to 3p),[25] Laurence Cook, appointed as chief commercial officer in November 2016, became Blur Group CEO,[26] and new chairman David Rowe slashed costs and raised £1.5m to try to steady the company.[27] The company moved its UK office to Pynes Hill in Exeter in late 2017.

In January 2018, Blur Group PLC changed its name to Maistro PLC.[28][29]

Clients

Customers include Danone, GE Healthcare,[30] Berlitz, Solvay S.A., Coral, and PaddyPower.

References

  1. ↑ "Blur Group Takes Its B2B Services Exchange into The Tech Vertical". TechCrunch. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  2. ↑ "Blur Group Plc". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  3. ↑ "18 Ways to Earn Money From Crowdworking". Mashable. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  4. ↑ "Save time: rid your business of these top five time wasters". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "Blur Group trades Madison Avenue for its Creative Services Exchange". TechCrunch.com. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  6. ↑ "South West can be proud of AIM-listed Blur Group, Mulberry and Sutton Harbour Holdings". Exeter Express and Echo. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  7. ↑ "blur Group plc Admission to Aim". Investegate.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  8. ↑ Hurley, James (17 July 2012). "No need to burn venture capital to be a tech success". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  9. ↑ "Blur Group Raises $2M To Disrupt How Marketers Pick Creatives For Campaigns". TechCrunch. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  10. ↑ "blur Group: The pace of growth quickens as crowdsourcing group handles 1,200th brief". proactiveinvestors.com. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  11. ↑ "IPO: B2B Services Exchange Blur Group To List On LSE AIM". TechCrunch. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  12. ↑ "blur Group PLC listed on AIM". London Stock Exchange. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  13. ↑ "Blur struggles to contain its optimism as revenues surge". Financial Times. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  14. ↑ "British invasion: U.K.-based technology company blur Group opens U.S. headquarters in Dallas". Dallas News. 10 April 2013.
  15. ↑ "blur Group PLC – Proposed placing to raise $20.0 million and Open Offer to raise up to approximately $2.0 million". N+1 Singer. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  16. ↑ "blur Group's exchange attracting larger projects with longer life-cycles". proactiveinvestors.com. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  17. ↑ "blur pulls in more consultancies to online market". Consultancy UK. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  18. ↑ "Silicon Valley veteran and blur Group CEO: 'If you're not being beaten up, you're probably not interesting'". Business Insider UK. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  19. ↑ Gartside, Juliette (15 May 2015). "Blur Group loses third finance chief in two years". Guardian. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  20. ↑ "Findings of the FRC in respect of the accounts of blur Group plc". frc.org.uk. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  21. ↑ "blur group makes restatements following FRC probe". AccountancyAge.com. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  22. ↑ Smith, Peter (3 July 2017). "Blur Group Shares Suspended – Why We Aren't Surprised". Spend Matters. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  23. ↑ Waller, Martin (24 June 2017). "Blur Group could be facing administration". Times. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  24. ↑ Walsh, Dominic (14 July 2017). "Blurred vision of solace at the boss's country retreat". Times. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  25. ↑ Lawson, Roger (1 August 2017). "Departures – AA and Blur". ShareSoc. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  26. ↑ Farrell, Stephen (3 August 2017). "NEW CEO TAKES THE HELM AT BLUR GROUP". Insider Media. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  27. ↑ Burgess, Kate (20 September 2017). "Blur's outlook still no clearer". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  28. ↑ "New name, new optimism at e-commerce specialist Maistro". Proactiveinvestors UK. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
  29. ↑ Finch, Hannah (2018-03-01). "Exeter's blur Group rebranded as Maistro with a positive start for 2018". devonlive. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
  30. ↑ "GE Awards Deal to Blur as Clients Skirt Madison Avenue". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
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