Powa Technologies has gone into administration after the payments startup's largest investor, Wellington Management, called in loans, according to the Financial Times.
The news comes days after it emerged that Powa has recently held back staff salaries and payments to suppliers, leaving some employees locked out of offices.
Despite having raised a hefty $175 million in funding, according to the FT Powa had just $250,000 available to it at the start of February.
Business Insider recently revealed that late last year the firm had to take out a loan - the size of which is not known - from Wellington Management that required the startup to put up the entire company as security.
Now, in an email seen by the FT, Powa CEO Dan Wagner has told staff that Wellington has called in its loans. Deloitte has been appointed to oversee the resultant move into administration.
"There are a number of options available to us which are being explored," says the email. "In particular I want to ensure you all get paid".
Having started life as a Square-clone mPOS outfit, Powa switched its focus to the PowaTag app, which let shoppers buy products from hundreds of participating retailers by snapping QR codes with their phone cameras.
Serial entrepreneur Wagner boasted the company would "revolutionise" commerce and with its massive funding reportedly valuing the company at $2.7 billion, spent heavily on ramping up staff numbers into the hundreds, spread across offices in London, New York, Spain, France, Italy, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, and South Korea.