The founders of Boo.com have agreed to write a warts-and-all book detailing the collapse of Britain's highest profile internet start-up.

Ernst Malmsten and Kajsa Leander, the two 30-year-old Swedes who set up the online clothes retailer, are being paid a fee of £50,000-£80,000 to provide the inside story on how the company burned £80m in little more than a year.

The book is being co-written by a Wall Street Journal journalist and is being pitched as a book about popular culture as much as a standard business book.

The authors have been holding an auction among London publishers. It is thought that Random House, the Bertelsmann- owned publisher, has won.

An executive at a rival firm that has submitted a bid said: "Boo.com was such a turning point in the internet business that we were very keen to sign them up. It's not just an ordinary book about business."

Mr Malmsten and Ms Leander felt heavily let down by several of the blue-chip investors who poured money into the company; a fresh wave of revelations could prove an embarrassment. Bernard Arnault's LVMH and US investment bank JP Morgan came in for particularly heavy criticism when Boo.com called in liquidators in May.

The founders themselves were criticised for their failure to install proper financial controls and the champagne lifestyle many at the company enjoyed.