Failed tech start-up founder says she’s moving to US amid bankruptcy battle
Friday, 17 October 2025
The founder of a failed Wellington start-up that once promised “game-changing” technology has announced she’s leaving New Zealand to start a new venture.
Melissa (Mel) Gollan, whose company RIPA Global was placed into liquidation earlier this year owing almost $7 million, says she is moving to Denver, Colorado.
Gollan’s relocation comes as she continues to fight bankruptcy proceedings at the High Court in Wellington, after BNZ applied to have her declared bankrupt.
In a judgment released on Wednesday, Associate Judge Andrew Skelton ordered that Gollan had until October 30 to repay BNZ just over $400,000 or she would be adjudicated bankrupt.
Gollan appeared via audio-visual link for the bankruptcy hearing on Monday. Representing herself, she argued she had been treated “unfairly and unjustly” by BNZ and asked the bank to sit down with her to work out a repayment plan.
“To make someone bankrupt is a big thing. To make a professional entrepreneur and a director bankrupt is a big thing. I feel like I’m just a number to BNZ,” Gollan told the court.
She continued to dispute the amount owed to BNZ, but accepted she had made a personal guarantee. She asked that she be allowed more time to pay the amount back in full, saying she came from a “family with means”.
Acting on behalf of BNZ, lawyer Lauren Furley said the bank had made the amount due clear and had been in communication with Gollan about the situation since March.
“She’s made several promises of potential repayments and potential money coming through, and the bank has seen nothing […] The bank has no faith in her ability to repay,” Furley said.
Gollan had shown no evidence of financial hardship or a credible repayment plan, she said.
According to Wednesday’s judgment, Associate Judge Skelton determined Gollan had provided “no evidence” to verify her claims that she could repay the money owed through family or otherwise.
He also rejected Gollan’s claims that it would be unjust or inequitable to declare her bankrupt: “Ms Gollan’s indebtedness is the result of her own conduct in guaranteeing the obligations of the company she controlled as sole director.”
He added that bankruptcy served as a way of “protecting the commercial community from future commercial activity” by judgment debtors, such as Gollan.
However, Associate Judge Skelton gave Gollan a “final opportunity” to repay BNZ the outstanding debt. From Wednesday, Gollan had five working days to respond to his judgment.
Despite the ongoing legal proceedings, Gollan took to LinkedIn last week to announce her next move.
She said she’d come to the realisation, “New Zealand is not the place for me - I simply do not fit the ‘mold’ and I am ok with that.
“It’s time to move to a country where I can be a gamechanger, a disrupter - fight the injustice in the world with people who support relentless drive and grit.”
Gollan has also advertised herself online as “moving to Denver to launch USA”. She remains a co-director of Kumara Pai Ltd, according to the Companies Register, and is listed as the company’s chief executive officer on their website.
Once touted as a rising star of New Zealand’s tech scene, Gollan founded The Work Shop Ltd, which traded as RIPA Global, in 2011.
The business branded itself as having“game-changing” technology to reduce the time and cost of accounting through an app that automated the processing of receipts, invoices and payments.
“This particular business I have built here has the potential to turnover $100 billion ‒ not million ‒ $100 billion in five years,” Gollan claimed in a 2020 interview.
But in February, Inland Revenue successfully applied to have the company wound up. The first liquidator’s report, released in March, showed RIPA Global owed more than $5.5 million, including $316,978 to Inland Revenue and $252,289 to staff.
An updated report in September showed total debts had climbed to almost $7m, with most of the additional $1.5m owed to further unsecured creditors.
Earlier this year, The Post spoke to some of Gollan’s former employees about the impact of the company’s collapse. Where some had to take loans to be able to afford their bills, others said they faced losing their homes and had sold possessions to get by.
Most also raised concerns about others being “dragged into business with her” through Kumara Pai Ltd and questioned whether she should be allowed to leave the country
“I just don't understand how she can carry on while the rest of us are out of pocket with no comeback,” one said.
Gollan did not wish to comment when approached by The Post earlier in the year, saying she was “unable to comment until the legal situation is resolved”, but would be “happy to comment post that”. She did not reply to further questions and blocked The Post.
When approached again last week, she said: “I am awaiting the outcome of proceedings”. She then blocked The Post again.
However, in a lengthy LinkedIn post dated October 6, Gollan said her “biggest regret” was not informing her team of the company’s financial situation earlier: “My deepest apologies. A landmine of my doing,” the post read.
During Monday’s court hearing, Furley told the court the bank had become aware of Gollan’s intention to leave New Zealand through that same post and submitted it as further grounds for having her declared bankrupt.