All staff have been made redundant after a UK manufacturing firm making design-to-fit face masks collapsed – just a year after receiving almost £800,000 in funding and grants.
Company background and product
Mask Logic was founded in 2021 at the height of the pandemic and promised to “solve the problem” of uncomfortable, badly fitting face masks and improve safety and comfort in workplaces where respiratory protection is essential. Their half-mask respirator used advanced 3D scanning technology to create a precise map of the face within minutes. This map was then used to design a fully customised nose bridge, ensuring a secure and comfortable fit.
Funding and collapse
In April last year the firm announced it had secured almost £800k in seed funding and grants. The £659k seed funding round was led by the Edinburgh-based angel syndicate Equity Gap, with participation from Scottish Enterprise, Old College Capital, the University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment fund, and Apollo Informal Investment. The company secured an additional £128k in grant support from Scottish Enterprise. But now administrators have announced that the Edinburgh-based company’s board of directors “concluded there was no other option” than to cease trading with David McGinness and Judith Howson, of AAB Business & Tax Advisory, appointed joint administrators.
Administrators' statement
A spokesperson for AAB said: “The company explored multiple avenues to secure a strategic partnership for delivering individually fit respiratory protection globally but unfortunately was unable complete the strategy. “Because scaling independently was too expensive and too slow for the available financing, the board of directors concluded that there was no other option than to seek the appointment of joint administrators.”
Mr McGinness added: “The business ceased to trade shortly before the appointment of the joint administrators. “Unfortunately, all staff were made redundant upon the joint administrators appointment. The joint administrators are engaged with the relevant agencies to co-ordinate supporting the employees through the difficult process.”
Impact and context
The administrators said that creditors, employees, customers and other affected parties will be contacted directly “with information relevant to them”. The company said on its website: “Mask Logic’s half-mask respirator uses advanced 3D scanning technology to create a precise map of the face within minutes. The map is then used to design a fully customised nose bridge, ensuring a secure and comfortable fit.”
People could use an app to scan their face, upload the scan and turn the measurements “into instructions for manufacturing a half-mask respirator”. There were two administrations registered in Scotland in June, the most recent Insolvency Service figures show. In total, there were 104 company insolvencies registered in Scotland, similar to the number in June last year. The Insolvency Service said that the total number of company insolvencies was made up of 61 creditors’ voluntary liquidations, 41 compulsory liquidations, and the two administrations.
