Phillip Kingston (born August 7, 1985) is a British-Australian entrepreneur and engineer. He founded Sargon and GrowthOps.

Career

Sargon

Kingston founded Sargon, a financial technology and superannuation services firm, with Aron D'Souza in 2013.[1]

In 2019, Sargon sought to float itself on the Australian Stock Exchange, with it being reported that backers hoped it would be valued at over AUS$1 billion.[1]

Sargon went into administration in February 2020, after creditors appointed receivers to try to recover unpaid debts from the firm. Creditors included GrowthOps, another of Kingston's businesses, which was owed "an amount below $1.8 million" and told investors it was unsure whether the money was recoverable.[2][3] Sargon's lender, Taiping Trustees, was owed $100m[4] and in September 2020, sought to freeze Kingston's assets but was blocked by a court order.[5]

In August 2021, it was reported that documents tabled to Parliament by Liberal MP Tim Wilson showed that the parent company of Taiping Trustees had misdirected repayments in "a deliberate effort to take ownership" of Sargon.[6] In December 2021, the Federal Court of Australia agreed to hear the case Kingston had brought to appoint special liquidators to investigate the claims that Sargon had been deliberately bankrupted.[7] Kingston withdrew the suit in March 2023.[8]

GrowthOps

Kingston originally founded Trimantium, a digital services provider, in 2008. It became GrowthOps in 2017 after merging with nine IT firms.[9] It floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2018, being valued at $64m.[1] It posted losses of $13.6m in 2018 and over $65m in 2019,[10][11] but cut this to a $24m loss in 2020 after restructuring.[12] The firm delisted itself in October 2020,[9] with its shares trading at 6.5¢ down from a high of $1.30.[13]

Other activities

Kingston has been a board member of the Victoria State Government’s LaunchVic initiative to build the state’s entrepreneurial and startup ecosystem, and is the author of The War for Eyeballs: An Introduction to Internet Marketing (2010).[14][15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Sarah Thompson; Anthony Macdonald (1 April 2019). "Deutsche, UBS hired to float Rob Rankin's '$1b-plus fintech'". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  2. ↑ Sarah Simpkins (10 February 2020). "Sargon appoints administrators, Onevue nabs assets". Fintech Business. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  3. ↑ Myriam Robin (6 February 2020). "Phillip Kingston's Sargon: At least Deloitte's a fan". Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  4. ↑ Liam Walsh; Jonathan Shapiro (3 April 2020). "Sargon in $100m hole to Chinese lender". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  5. ↑ Kanika Sood (30 September 2020). "Court blocks bid to freeze Phil Kingston's assets". Financial Standard. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  6. ↑ Anthony Galloway (10 August 2021). "China state-owned lender firm named in Parliament for deliberately bankrupting Australian company". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  7. ↑ "Sargon case hits federal court". Mirage News. 23 December 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  8. ↑ "PHILLIP KINGSTON v SARGON CAPITAL PTY LIMITED (RECEIVERS AND MANAGERS APPOINTED) (IN LIQUIDATION) & ORS". comcourts.gov.au. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  9. 1 2 Nico Arboleda (28 October 2020). "Trimantium GrowthOps to delist from ASX". CRN. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  10. ↑ Vivienne Kelly (23 August 2018). "Trimantium GrowthOps announces $13.6m statutory loss and $7.1m pro-forma net profit". Mumbrella. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  11. ↑ Vivienne Kelly (30 August 2019). "Trimantium GrowthOps posts $65m loss". Mumbrella. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  12. ↑ Eleanor Dickinson (28 February 2020). "Newly restructured GrowthOps posts $24M loss". ARNnet. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  13. ↑ Liam Walsh; Max Mason (27 January 2023). "The fintech whiz, China and a courtroom caning". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  14. ↑ Yolanda Redrup (1 February 2016). "Major US tech investors arrive on Australian mission". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  15. ↑ Kingston, Phillip (2010). The War for Eyeballs: An Introduction to Internet Marketing. Kingston Publishing. ISBN 978-0-646-53121-2.
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