The start-up Moheko has shut down after only a few months in business. The venture aimed to provide an online comparison service for PLCs selecting agencies to compile their annual reports and to promote transparency between agencies and clients.

Despite a strong launch in January, Moheko seems to have been unable to find a sustained market for their services.  Founder and MD Robert Moser pointed out that the idea was ‘initially successful’, and that ‘over half of the largest reporting agencies supported the idea', but acknowledged that Moheko ‘didn’t grow fast enough to warrant [our] “low price to all” business model’.

An early critic of Moheko was Nick Jefferson, the MD of the corporate reporting agency Likemind.  Jefferson commented that he wasn’t surprised to hear of the demise of the service, saying ‘There is a certain inevitability about greater transparency that comes with the trend towards commoditisation of corporate reporting.  However, with the prices they were charging the model was always questionable.’

However, James Houston, MD of Jones and Palmer, and a supporter of the project, said that ‘Moheko was a welcome opportunity to drive transparency in an industry with a disparate charging structure. Unfortunately some big brand agencies seem reluctant to open up to this.’  Houston affirmed that he would use a similar service again, and Moser himself seems certain that the idea will be renewed, saying ‘I wish all the best of luck to whoever takes the idea and makes it work - which will certainly happen!’

See also