Amid the fallout of Pollen, the destination events company is now facing a class action lawsuit from former employees, Digital Music News reports.
Pollen recently went into administration in the U.K. after receiving droves of complaints from consumers, many of whom allege the company failed to issue refunds for events that had been canceled. The company also drew the ire of a number of its partners, like Drumcode Malta, whose organizers said Pollen's highly publicized struggles forced them to pull the plug on the festival.
As the news circulated, Pollen released a statement attributing its pitfalls to a number of factors, including COVID-19 restrictions and a global economic downtick. The statement arrived days after Live Nation released its Q2 financials, reporting $4.43 billion in revenue, up from $575.9 million last year.
"Despite strong growth since Streetteam Software Ltd.’s inception eight years ago, the knock-on effects of COVID-19 over the last two years, which decimated much of the travel sector, together with the tech stock crash and current consumer uncertainty in light of global economic conditions, put too much pressure on the business whilst at a critical stage of a scale-up’s maturity," read's Pollen's statement.
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Now, Sergio Giancaspro is suing Network Travel Experiences, Inc. and StreetTeam Software LLC., the U.S. subsidiaries of Pollen, according to DMN. The class action suit alleges that Pollen was aware of its financial difficulties in early 2022 after missing payroll to its U.S. workforce. Moreover, employees' reimbursements in 2022 were reportedly late, with some sources saying they weren’t repaid at all.
The suit is the latest development in the saga of Pollen, which had raised $150 million to curate destination travel experiences. Founded in 2014, the company reportedly laid off over 150 members of its staff in May, just one month after the funding round.
"It touts itself as 'pair[ing] world-class entertainment with exciting destinations,' and offers employees a chance to 'live a bigger life.' Pollen proclaims that it is backed by prominent investors and has raised over $200 million in VC funding," the lawsuit reads, per DMN.
"The party ended in August 2022," the suit adds. "Pollen's executives severely mismanaged the hundreds of millions with which they were entrusted."
