Staff at a food delivery startup have received death threats from drivers after it collapsed into administration

Management staff at Valk Fleet, a food delivery startup in the UK and Germany, have received death threats after the company collapsed into administration, according to TechCrunch.

The death threats reportedly came from Valk Fleet drivers who say they are still owed money (as are a number of the company's internal staff).

Valk Fleet was created by German food delivery startup Delivery Hero, which has been valued at $3.1 billion (£2.2 billion) by its investors.

Two weeks ago, however, Delivery Hero announced that it was closing down Valk Fleet and the company has since gone into administration, which is what UK companies do when they can't service their debts.

Scott Fletcher, a member of Delivery Hero's management team, told TechCrunch that the police have been informed of the threats. "They were largely directed at the head office staff and management," he said.

"When the company was put into administration, there were outstanding payments to both drivers and staff," Fletcher added. "All payments were frozen by the administrator."

Valk Fleet is one of a new generation of sharing economy companies, which means Valk Fleet's drivers are classed as self-employed. As a result, they don't have any employment rights beyond the contract they signed with Valk Fleet.

Fletcher told TechCrunch that Valk Fleet had a substantial amount of capital in its bank account when the administrators were called in. However, it's unclear at this stage if Valk Fleet has enough to pay off its debts.