Online women’s magazine The Pool has gone bust, leaving 24 journalists facing redundancy and many freelancers facing a battle to get paid, in another blow for the online news business.

Staff have been told that the publisher, founded by broadcaster Lauren Laverne and former Cosmopolitan editor Sam Baker in 2015, is now insolvent, and administrators are set to be appointed on Friday after rescue talks failed.

The Pool’s founders quit the company’s board last year, but Baker stayed at the site until two weeks ago. Laverne still has an outstanding £40,000 loan to the company which could now be at risk, while other investors also face losing out.

Staff at the website, which raised at least £4m from shareholders, were not paid January’s wages and will now have to see what can be recovered by administrators to pay their salaries.

Many freelance journalists are owed thousands by the site, which lost £1.8m in the last financial year and was known for its relatively generous freelance rates in a struggling industry.

Dominic Hill, the company’s only remaining director, told staff that he had no choice but to put The Pool into administration: “As a director and shareholder, I have a duty to do this as the business is now insolvent and we have exhausted all rescue ideas/plans.”

He told staff that the administrator would “explain the process which will include how you can claim for January’s salary and any redundancy payment you may be due”.

He added: “Like you, I loved The Pool and what it stood for, and I’m sorry that I let you and it down. Thank you so much for working and loving The Pool right to the last minute. It says a lot about a company/brand/business that even when the team know the business is out of the time, they continue giving it their all!!”

The company’s collapse comes at the end of a miserable fortnight for digital media companies that has seen BuzzFeed make heavy staff cuts and Verizon Media Group, owner of HuffPost, lay off hundreds of people.