Prominent investors invested more than 50 million euros in the fintech Elinvar. The application for bankruptcy took place in 2023. Now the startup is on the verge of extinction.
The remaining employees of the fintech have already been terminated. Elinvar GmbH
The German fintech cemetery is expanding to include another startup. The insolvent Berlin fintech Elinvar was unable to find a buyer or investor, like the responsible insolvency administrator Sascha Feies says the industry portal Finance Forward. The company will be dissolved. Elinvar, which emerged from the Finleap incubator in 2016, is now on the verge of extinction. The remaining 70 employees have already been laid off.
The startup has provided white label solutions for the financial sector. The Berliners provided the financial institutions with the technical infrastructure for deposits, financial statements and customer advice. Customers included the private bank MM Warburg & Co and DKB. In total, Elinvar received more than 50 million euros in financing, including prominent investors such as Goldman Sachs.
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Cash burn in the high single-digit million range
Started with great expectations, the fintech was never able to develop a successful, sustainable business model. Projects were delayed or canceled. The DKB terminated the cooperation after just one year. Founder Chris Bartz was running out of customers. The cash burn is said to have been in the high single-digit million range at times.
In 2022, a third of the workforce was laid off. At the same time, the company received new money from investors. The goal is to become profitable over the next year, said CEO Bartz at the time. That didn’t happen anymore. In March 2023, the private bank Warburg changed its provider for digital asset management. A short time later, investor Goldman Sachs sold the shares in the fintech. In October 2023, the application for insolvency proceedings was made, which, according to the insolvency administrator, has now failed.
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