A trio of execs from Acequote, the B2B marketplace, has broken away to form a rival company.

Called Boffin (url thisisboffin.com), the service matches IT buyers and resellers and goes live on Monday, July 1. It differs from Acequote in that it allows resellers to distribute marketing material direct to the end-user companies, 2,000 of whom have already been signed up, through a direct marketing campaign.

Boffin is going live first in the UK, France and Sweden, with more countries rolling out this year and next.

Imogen Bailey, Acequote's former marketing manager, and a founder director of Boffin, told us:

"We're opposed to the idea of price discovery and squeezed margins and see practices and marketplaces that encourage them as detrimental to the channel and end users. Value is key to maintaining two-sided relationships that deliver tangible benefit. We left Acequote for this reason."

What can she mean?

Matt Bowen, AQ's former sales manager and Leon Hardwick, AQ's former channel marketplace manager, are fellow founders of Boffin. The business is supported by half a million quid in start-up capital.

Acequote restructured at the start of the year, losing the majority of its staff. Bought for DM85M cash (!) in April, the company's owner, German group DCI, is heavily lossmaking. ®