Creativemass: Fintech's 60-Day Subchapter V Liquidation

Creativemass Holdings, Inc., the U.S. holding company for a fintech company that built the Salesforce-based WealthConnect wealth management platform, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under Subchapter V on April 14, 2025, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware—two years after its Australian operating subsidiary entered liquidation following a failed $70 million capital raise with Goldman Sachs. The prepackaged liquidation proceeded from filing to plan effective date in 60 days, with unsecured creditors receiving 100% recovery and equity holders expected to receive approximately 45% of their investment.

Court	U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware
Case Number	25-10695-MFW
Debtor(s)	Creativemass Holdings, Inc.
Additional Debtor	Creativemass Enterprises US LLC
Petition Date	April 14, 2025
Plan Type	Prepackaged Plan of Liquidation
Confirmation Date	May 29, 2025
Effective Date	June 13, 2025
Judge	Hon. Mary F. Walrath
Debtor Counsel	Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, P.C.
Subchapter V Trustee	William A. Homony
CRO / Plan Administrator	Claudia Z. Springer (Novo Advisors, LLC)
Claims Agent	Stretto, Inc.
Total Assets	~$4.2 million (U.S. cash + expected Australian dividends)
Total Liabilities	~$2.1 million unsecured
Unsecured Creditor Recovery	100%
Equity Recovery	~45% pro rata

Company Background and Funding History

Creativemass Enterprises Pty Ltd launched in Australia in June 2017 with WealthConnect™, a Salesforce-integrated wealth management platform designed for financial advisors, brokers, and asset managers. The platform was positioned as the first investment and compliance solution built solely on Salesforce, integrating CRM capabilities with portfolio management, transaction processing, and regulatory compliance tools. Crunchbase documented the company as headquartered in Melbourne, providing client management, workflow automation, and integration tools for financial advisors. According to CB Insights, the platform offered cloud-based AI-driven back-office solutions including a Financial Planning Wizard and customer engagement tools. The product lineup eventually encompassed three offerings: WealthConnect™ as the core wealth management platform, InvestorConnect for investor engagement, and WealthConnect.com for digital client-facing solutions. The company established six offices across three countries—the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

In June 2020, Republic Capital Group announced a strategic investment of $3.35 million in Creativemass—the Houston-based investment bank's first foray into fintech. Creativemass Holdings, Inc. was formed as a Delaware holding company to anchor U.S. expansion, with founder Michael Rouse serving as Founder and Managing Director. The enterprise targeted the wealthtech sector, which Grand View Research projects will reach $12.07 billion by 2030. As Crowdfund Insider reported, the company served a diverse client base spanning wealth and asset management, insurance, mortgage, broker-dealer, and accounting firms.

During 2021-2022, the company raised approximately $25 million and expanded from 30 employees to over 220—a sevenfold increase in headcount, according to the First Day Declaration. The company's employee count peaked at approximately 220 before the funding environment shifted. Tracxn data shows the company's primary industry classification as Financial Software.

The Fintech Funding Contraction and Path to Distress

The venture capital pullback of 2023 affected technology startups dependent on external funding. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, global fintech venture capital funding declined from $143 billion in 2021 to $89.5 billion in 2022—a 37% decline—before declining further to approximately $43 billion in 2023, representing a 70% drop from peak levels in two years. The investment and capital markets segment within fintech experienced a sharper contraction, with funding dropping 72% year-over-year in 2023. TechCrunch reported that late-stage investments fell to their lowest levels since 2017, while early-stage companies received their least funding since 2016. Approximately 900 seed-stage fintechs that had raised $1 million or more in 2021 had not raised subsequent rounds.

Rising interest rates, declining tech stock valuations, the war in Ukraine, a stalled IPO pipeline, and the March 2023 failure of Silicon Valley Bank coincided with the downturn. TechCrunch reports that startup failures rose 25.6% in 2024, with 966 VC-backed companies shutting down. Against this backdrop, Creativemass attempted to secure a capital raise of approximately $70 million with Goldman Sachs. The deal fell through in late 2023, and the company did not secure the funding.

As liquidity tightened in late 2022, Creativemass executed a $5,717,527 Note-to-Equity Conversion on December 24, 2022. Under the Convertible Note Agreement's automatic conversion provisions, noteholder debt converted to equity upon the non-occurrence of a "Qualified Financing" event. The conversion immediately drew protests. According to the First Day Declaration, "a number of Holders protested their conversion, many stating its impropriety because it occurred on or near the Convertible Notes' maturity date." Management responded through informal channels rather than formal legal adjudication: approximately 5% of Convertible Notes were excluded from the conversion after their holders protested, while approximately 1% were settled to resolve claims of improper conversion. This differential treatment became a contested issue in the bankruptcy case, with the U.S. Trustee alleging that it served to benefit insiders.

Creativemass Enterprises in Australia had relied on the country's R&D Tax Incentive program to fund product development, claiming approximately $19 million AUD in R&D tax credits. The Australian Taxation Office made a partial payment in December 2022, but on March 9, 2023, the ATO formally questioned the remaining $13.5 million AUD portion of the claim without providing a definitive disbursement timeline.

Consortium Intervention and Leadership Transition

By early 2023, Creativemass faced a liquidity shortfall. A group of bridge funders—the "Consortium"—agreed to provide financing on the condition that founder and CEO Michael Rouse exit. On February 8, 2023, Rouse left his position as sole director of the U.S. holding company. Through an Exit Deed, he forfeited all equity interests in Creativemass Group entities. According to court filings, Rouse has since "evaded all contact attempts"—both informal outreach and formal court intervention orders.

The Consortium—comprising AMP Group Finance Services Ltd., Equisolve Consulting Ltd., and the Sydney Syndicate (including Harvest Lane Absolute Return Fund and National Nominees at Sydney University)—provided bridge funding in three tranches totaling $1.833 million:

Alex Ulrich—a former director of the Australian subsidiary Creativemass Enterprises—was appointed sole director of the U.S. holding company on April 12, 2023. Ulrich's role later drew scrutiny from the U.S. Trustee, who noted that one of the "Protesting Noteholders" receiving 100% recovery in the chapter 11 case was indirectly held by Ulrich.

Australian Voluntary Administration and Liquidation

On March 15, 2023—six days after the ATO's formal question about the R&D tax claim—Creativemass Enterprises Pty Ltd entered voluntary administration under Australian law. Michael Hogan and Christian Sprowles of HoganSprowles were appointed as administrators. On April 28, 2023, creditors voted to place Creativemass Enterprises into Creditors' Voluntary Liquidation, with Hogan and Sprowles continuing as Joint Liquidators. The entity was renamed A.C.N. 619 665 628 Pty Ltd (In Liquidation).

In May 2023, GBST Holdings—an Australian cloud-based SaaS wealth management technology provider—acquired the WealthConnect platform from the liquidation for an undisclosed sum. Robert De Dominicis, GBST's CEO, characterized the acquisition as "the next logical step" in the company's growth strategy. According to PitchBook, the acquisition closed on May 2, 2023. For the remaining Creativemass entities, the Australian liquidation represented the primary source of potential recovery.

Following the Australian administration, the remaining Creativemass Group entities had no operations. For 15 months, Ulrich—the sole remaining director—oversaw a holding company with no operations, employees, or revenue; potential assets depended on Australian liquidation dividends. In June 2024, the Australian Liquidators declared their first interim dividend of over $2 million. The dividend created distributable funds, but the unresolved Note-to-Equity Conversion dispute left creditor entitlements contested.

ABC Petition Denial and the Delaware Chapter 11 Filing

With distributable assets now in hand, Creativemass needed a court process to resolve competing claims. On October 4, 2024, the company entered a Trust and Assignment Agreement with Novo Advisors to pursue an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC) under Delaware law. Claudia Z. Springer, a Principal at Novo Advisors with over 40 years of restructuring experience, would serve as assignee. The ABC petition (Case No. 2024-1131-PAF) was filed in Delaware Chancery Court on November 1, 2024, but on November 19, 2024, the court denied the petition in a one-page order, questioning whether an assignment proceeding was appropriate given that Creativemass's assets exceeded its liabilities on paper.

With the ABC avenue closed, Springer was appointed as Chief Restructuring Officer on April 4, 2025. Four days later, on April 8, the company began soliciting votes on a prepackaged Chapter 11 plan—six days before the actual bankruptcy filing. Law360 reported that the prepackaged approach could resolve creditor recoveries in weeks rather than months. Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, profiled in Law360's coverage of the case, served as debtor's counsel, filing the chapter 11 petitions on April 14, 2025, and securing first-day relief on April 16, 2025. The Stretto claims portal was established for creditor communications, with a meeting of creditors scheduled for May 7, 2025.

The U.S. Trustee Objection

The case proceeded through first-day motions until May 15, 2025, when the U.S. Trustee filed a detailed objection raising four substantive concerns. Law360 reported that the government argued the plan would "lock in prepetition note conversions that would benefit an insider of the debtor."

The U.S. Trustee challenged the plan's classification scheme under Section 1129(a)(3), which requires that a plan be "proposed in good faith." The plan divided former noteholders into two groups based on whether they had informally protested the 2022 conversion: five "Protesting" Noteholders who disputed the conversion received treatment as Class 1.A unsecured creditors with 100% recovery on approximately $1,537,722 in claims, while converted noteholders (approximately $4,179,805 in face value) received treatment as Class 2 equity holders with estimated 45% recovery. The U.S. Trustee noted that the second-largest protesting noteholder was indirectly held by sole director Alex Ulrich.

Additional objections targeted Plan Sections 9.1 and 9.2, which enjoined parties from filing proofs of claim and automatically deemed all filed proofs "objected to and disallowed" without further court action—provisions the U.S. Trustee argued violated Section 501(a) and Section 502(a). Section 8.6 of the plan provided that distributions to unlocated shareholders would be forfeited to located shareholders, which the U.S. Trustee contended contradicted Section 347(a). The plan also limited court oversight of professional fees to the Confirmation Date rather than the Effective Date.

In their May 22, 2025 brief in support of confirmation, the Debtors responded that CRO Springer acted independently of Ulrich's influence; that the good faith inquiry concerns the plan proposal itself, not pre-bankruptcy conduct; that Ulrich's noteholder claim received the same treatment as all other unsecured noteholders; that the conversion was proper under the Convertible Note Agreement's automatic conversion provisions; that converted noteholders voted unanimously to accept the plan; and that litigating the conversion's validity would consume estate resources. On May 29, 2025, Judge Mary F. Walrath overruled all objections and confirmed the plan consensually under Section 1191(a).

Plan Structure and Creditor Treatment

The Debtors entered bankruptcy with approximately $2.18 million in U.S. bank accounts at Veritex Community Bank—funds that originated from the June 2024 Australian dividend. Combined with expected additional Australian liquidation dividends of approximately $2 million USD (approximately $3.36 million AUD), total distributable assets are about $4.2 million—exceeding the roughly $2.1 million in unsecured debt. The first distributions to creditors were expected in Q3 2025, following receipt of the "Material Australian Dividend" contemplated by the plan.

The plan includes opt-in third-party releases for both Class 1 creditors and Class 2 equity holders, providing protection to the Debtors' officers, directors, and professionals who participated in the restructuring process. The Debtors did not receive a Section 1141(d)(3) discharge—standard treatment for liquidating plans where the debtor will not continue business operations. The Plan Administrator (CRO Springer) oversees remaining distributions and case administration.

Subchapter V Context

The case avoided formation of an official creditors' committee, minimized U.S. Trustee quarterly fees, and bypassed traditional disclosure statement requirements under the Small Business Reorganization Act. As Virginia Lawyer explains, Subchapter V offers shorter timelines and fewer administrative requirements than traditional Chapter 11. The Miami-Dade Bar notes that the streamlined process permits only the debtor to file a plan, eliminating competing creditor plans and providing a path for equity holders to retain interests without the absolute priority rule. Subchapter V Trustee William A. Homony played the facilitative role contemplated by the statute. Data from the U.S. Trustee Program shows that Subchapter V cases reach plan confirmation on average nearly four months faster than traditional small business cases, with approximately 51% resulting in confirmed plans.

Subchapter V filings rose 6% year-to-date through September 2025, according to NACM data. The debt limit cap increased to $3,424,000 as of April 1, 2025, though this remains below the temporary $7.5 million threshold that applied during COVID-19 relief measures. As Lexology notes, Senators Grassley and Durbin introduced an amendment in July 2025 to restore the elevated threshold. PYMNTS reports that 254 Carta clients filed for bankruptcy in Q1 2024.

Key Case Timeline

Cross-Border Coordination

The U.S. bankruptcy case primarily distributes proceeds from the Australian liquidation to U.S. stakeholders. Australian liquidation proceeds flowed to the U.S. holding company as a shareholder distribution, not as a direct creditor payment. The 15-month wait for Australian dividends preceded the U.S. restructuring timeline; the chapter 11 filing followed receipt of distributable funds. WealthConnect and other core assets were handled in the Australian liquidation, not the U.S. Chapter 11.

Carta data shows that average seed-stage headcount dropped from 6.4 employees in 2022 to 3.5 in 2024. Creativemass expanded from 30 to 220 employees. The company reported negative EBITDA of approximately $4.8 million AUD in 2022.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was Creativemass and what did it do?

Creativemass was a fintech company founded in Australia in 2017 that developed WealthConnect, a Salesforce-based wealth management platform for financial advisors, brokers, and asset managers. The platform provided portfolio management, compliance, transaction processing, and client relationship management tools.

Why did Creativemass file for bankruptcy?

The company filed after its Australian operating subsidiary entered liquidation in 2023, following a failed $70 million capital raise with Goldman Sachs, rapid staff expansion (from 30 to 220 employees), unresolved R&D tax claims with Australian authorities, and the broader fintech funding contraction that saw global venture capital for fintech drop 70% from 2021 peak levels.

What is Subchapter V bankruptcy?

Subchapter V is a streamlined chapter 11 process for small businesses enacted by the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019. It features lower costs, faster timelines, no disclosure statement requirement, no creditors' committee, and the ability to confirm plans without creditor approval.

How long was the bankruptcy case?

60 days—from the April 14, 2025 filing to the June 13, 2025 plan effective date.

What happened to WealthConnect?

GBST Holdings, an Australian wealth management technology company, acquired the WealthConnect platform from the Australian liquidation proceeding in May 2023 for an undisclosed amount.

Did creditors receive full payment?

Yes. Both unsecured noteholders (Class 1.A) and general unsecured creditors (Class 1.B) received 100% recovery on their allowed claims.

What did equity holders receive?

Equity holders are expected to receive approximately 45% pro rata recovery, with potential for additional distributions from future Australian dividends.

What was the Note-to-Equity Conversion controversy?

In December 2022, Creativemass converted approximately $5.7 million in convertible notes to equity, triggering protests from some noteholders who disputed the timing and propriety of the conversion. The chapter 11 plan treated protesting noteholders as unsecured creditors (100% recovery) while converted noteholders received equity treatment (~45% recovery).

Why did the U.S. Trustee object to the plan?

The U.S. Trustee raised four objections: (1) differential treatment of noteholders based on informal protests benefited an insider; (2) automatic claims disallowance violated creditor rights; (3) forfeiture of unclaimed distributions contradicted bankruptcy code requirements; and (4) professional fee oversight was inadequate. Judge Walrath overruled all objections.

What is the current status of the case?

As of late 2025, the case is in post-confirmation administration. The Plan Administrator (Claudia Z. Springer) is overseeing distributions to creditors and equity holders. Professional fees were approved in August 2025.

How did the Australian and U.S. proceedings interact?

The U.S. bankruptcy case exists primarily to distribute proceeds from the Australian liquidation to U.S. stakeholders. The Australian subsidiary is separately in liquidation under Australian law, with dividends flowing to the U.S. case for distribution.

Who was the founder and what happened to him?

Michael Rouse founded Creativemass in 2017 and served as Managing Director. He resigned on February 8, 2023, under pressure from bridge funders, forfeiting all equity through an Exit Deed. According to court filings, Rouse has since "evaded all contact attempts."

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For more analysis of technology sector restructurings and Subchapter V cases, visit ElevenFlo's bankruptcy coverage.