Ventrex is a venture capital fund looking to invest in the video games market. It engages Alexa, a specialist venture capital business adviser, to prepare detailed advice regarding the feasibility of investing in a new video games console currently under development: the WonderDuck, a new system being developed by Bandye. Alexa, using the benchmarks that are customarily used by the small group of venture capital advisers, recommends that Ventrex proceeds with its investment. Alexas advice indicates that the WonderDuck is expected to capture a 25% market share by the end of 2022. If that were the case, Ventrexs investment would be very profitable. Relying on Alexas advice Ventrex makes the investment Despite doing adequate research and using the benchmarks described above, Alexa, however, fails to consider the marketing and advertising budgets set aside by the manufacturers of the PlayStation, the Xbox, and the Switch, the video game consoles that are currently dominant in the market and that will be the WonderDucks direct competitors. Moreover, these marketing budget figures are on the public record and could have been identified by either Alexa or Ventrex themselves by consulting the relevant manufacturers latest annual reports. In comparison, Bandyes marketing and advertising budget for the WonderDuck was extremely small. As a result, when it launches in October 2021, the new WonderDuck system fails to generate anything more than marginal interest amongst consumers. As a result, it quickly fails, and Ventrex loses most of its sizeable investment. Ventrex wants to recover its losses from Alexa, on the basis that her advice was negligently prepared. Can Ventrex recover its investment losses from Alexa, according to the law of negligence? Please address all steps of the negligence process, and address any potentially relevant defences.

18 marks