A software scaleup based at the Malaga TechPark was weeks away from closing a Series B round with an international fund when a former employee posted accusations on LinkedIn and on a technical forum about alleged unfair labor practices and a wrongful dismissal. The posts, full of plausible but partly inaccurate details, began ranking on the first pages of Google when people searched for the company's name.
The investment fund's due diligence team spotted the content during its reputational review, and the deal was put on hold while they requested clarification. With the round still pending and the founding team under considerable pressure, every day of delay increased the risk that the fund would opt for another investment opportunity in the same sector.
Our team worked on two fronts: on one hand, we reviewed the documentation of the employment case with the company's HR department to draft a factual, measured public response; on the other, we deployed a ranking strategy with verifiable corporate content, press releases about the company's real milestones and optimized professional profiles that pushed the problematic posts off the first page. At the same time, we mediated directly with the former employee to secure a partial correction of the most serious claims.
Within six weeks, the company's digital narrative accurately reflected its track record and achievements. The fund resumed its due diligence, the round closed on schedule, and the company has since adopted an internal protocol for communicating employee departures to prevent similar situations.
