Pioneering autonomous vehicle firm appoints liquidators

Liquidators have been appointed by an international driverless vehicle firm, once hailed to be at the forefront of the driverless tech sector.

Birmingham-headquartered Conigital, which retrofits commercial and industrial fleets with autonomous driving technology, has appointed liquidators at Begbies Traynor, after falling victim to “investor fatigue/inability to raise the required levels of finance due to market conditions”.

Conigital had expanded rapidly since 2015 through Innovate UK funding, grants, Seedrs Investment, private investments, and the Future Fund, which supported its R&D initiatives.

CEO Don Dhaliwal announced in September 2023 that it secured an offer of £500m in Series A+ funding. The combination of equity and debt investment was coming from a “global private equity infrastructure firm” which manages £150bn in assets. It’s unknown if the funding round ever closed.

Earlier in 2023, Conigital also received £8.3m from the government and £6.9m from industry to develop key infrastructure in the West Midlands to help self-driving vehicles become commercially viable.

Conigital has faced several employment tribunals over unpaid wages, unauthorised deductions from wages and unfair dismissal claims. Some payouts to claimants have been as high as £23k.

Craig Povey, Partner at Begbies Traynor, said: “I can confirm that we have been appointed as liquidators for Conigital and are working closely with management to ensure we get the best result for stakeholders, creditors and employees.

“This is a truly innovative, high-end technology company which attracted funding for a number of years due to the progress it was making. Unfortunately, due to funding issues, the directors and shareholders felt that they had no alternative than to voluntarily liquidate the company following careful consideration due to the business being unable to sustain operations.

“This company appears to be another victim of investor fatigue/inability to raise the required levels of finance due to market conditions. We would highlight that businesses, especially in these asset and intellectual property-rich industries, have options if they review their operations and seek turnaround advice early. The earlier businesses confront the indicators and signs of distress the more opportunities they have to survive and thrive.”