The maker of a nicotine-inhaling device which won backing from the one-time star fund manager Neil Woodford has gone up in smoke after failing to secure a fresh round of funding.
Sky News understands that Kind Consumer, which manufactured products under the Voke brand, called in administrators from Smith & Williamson last week.
The company's collapse will trigger tens of millions of pounds of losses for investors, who included Mr Woodford's former investment management group and the former Tesco chief Sir Terry Leahy.
In total, Kind Consumer had raised in the region of £140m from investors since it was set up.
Alan Sutherland, Kind Consumer's chief executive, is understood to have informed shareholders that there was only a "slim prospect" of any return to them from the insolvency process.
The administrators are understood to have signed off a pre-pack sale of Kind Consumer's assets to OBG Consumer Scientific, a subsidiary of Pharmaserve, a privately owned group, for just £1.6m.
Its collapse came ahead of a proposed relaunch of Voke's range in 2022, and after partnerships had been struck with industry giants including British American Tobacco.
Voke's products have been endorsed by Public Health England as a safer alternative to smoking, and have been used in pilot programmes launched by several NHS trusts.
Sky News revealed last month that Kind Consumer had warned stakeholders that its funding position was "critical", and that it was looking to raise £36m to deliver a revised business plan.
Neither Kind Consumer nor Mr Sutherland responded to a request for comment.
