Shuttered Discount-Alert Site Hukkster Enters Chapter 7

Until its sudden shutdown earlier this month, the website Hukkster helped shoppers snatch up coveted items by sending notifications when retailers lowered prices.

Now, the failed startup finds itself in the position of being one of the discount items it may have advertised—as a Chapter 7 debtor looking to liquidate its assets through bankruptcy.

The value of the company, which filed for Chapter 7 on Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, likely won’t come close to the several million dollars in investments it has raised since its 2012 founding by two former retail consultants.

In the filing, the company lists assets of less than $500,000 and debt of around $1.6 million. The money it owes includes the repayment of $1.5 million in unsecured loans that it borrowed between January and March, as well as payments to vendors and some $34,000 owed to its lawyers at Cooley LLP. Hukkster’s two founders, Katie Finnegan and Erica Bell, also say they are owed $6,300 each in unused vacation time and unpaid wages.

The company’s bankruptcy attorney, Fred Stevens, said the filing came as a way to preserve Hukkster’s value. Ms. Finnegan and Ms. Bell couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

In Hukkster’s early days, the site received a blitz of media attention, particularly after the Winklevoss twins—yes, those Winklevoss twins—invested in the company. Wednesday’s bankruptcy filing shows that Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss sunk $1.77 million into the venture through their investment firm, Winklevoss Capital, giving them 19.4% equity in Hukkster.

In November 2012, the Winklevosses expressed enthusiasm about the new venture in an interview with the New York Times. “I have to say the emotional charge of getting one of these alerts is pretty awesome!” Cameron Winklevoss told the Times after sharing that Hukkster helped him save 15% on a pair of Topsiders and pointed him to a 30% discount on a pair of Levi’s jeans.

An email to Winklevoss Capital seeking comment was not immediately returned Wednesday.

Hukkster, which made money off of referral fees from retailers, notified users by email Aug. 1 that the website would be shutting down, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Earlier this month, BuzzFeed reported that a dispute between the Winklevoss twins and the company’s debtholders over a proposed buyout may have contributed to Hukkster’s abrupt end.

Write to Sara Randazzo at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @sara_randazzo.