Missfresh, a Chinese grocery delivery start-up once valued at $3bn, notified hundreds of employees in an internal call on Thursday that it had run out of cash, as a group of unpaid suppliers protested at its Beijing offices.
An executive at the Tiger Global-backed company told employees on the hastily arranged call that funds from a coal mining group announced earlier this month had not materialised, and that it could not pay overdue June salaries.
“The money still hasn’t come through, so now our operations are in big trouble,” said Xiao Yungui, head of supply chain management at Missfresh, according to information shared with the Financial Times.