Deepnews is the new startup of Math42 founder Maxim Nitsche. Four years of development went into the project – and a lot of his own exit money at Math42.
As a teenager he built the learning app Math42, now he dedicates himself to journalism with Deepnews. Lisa Kempke for Business Insider / start-up scene
First a math prodigy, then a startup millionaire in his early 20s. Maxim Nitsche is 28 today, but has already had a few startup years behind him. As a teenager, he founded the tutoring app Math42 with his father and brother. In 2017 they sold their app to the listed US company Chegg, which also develops educational software. For a total of 20 million euros – a big exit at the time.
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After that, he initially went through a difficult time, as he explains in the current episode of “So geht Startup”: “You are obsessed with building something. I dreamed about Math42, I couldn’t finish a chess game properly because an idea came to me. There is nothing else in life and suddenly that is gone and you are completely disoriented.”
A short time later, Halt gave him the work on a new, second startup: With Deepnews, Nitsche has now taken on the difficult business of journalism, with the media. Of course, again in the same constellation as at Math42 – with his brother, his father, his stepmother. New this time is his partner Antonia Düker, who originally had the idea for Deepnews.
Four years of development and 2.5 million of your own money are behind Deepnews
Four years of development are now in the application. So far, the founding family has financed this completely themselves. They wanted to remain independent during the development phase: “As long as the company is still in its infancy, there is a lot that can be talked into it from the outside. As soon as a product is on the market, as soon as users interact with it, it is significantly more difficult to bring in changes from the outside.”
A great privilege, he says: “The biggest change since the exit with Math42 is that you can raise such a monster project and that at least the financial aspect is not the limiting factor.” Nitsche estimates that around 2.5 million euros in stick to the product. The app has just been launched, and now external investors are also an option for him and his team.
What Deepnews is all about and what Nitsche wants to do differently with this foundation than with Math42, that’s what the current episode of “So geht Startup” is about.
Advertisement. This episode is presented by the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences. Apply by August 15 for the MBA program “Start-up Development” in the winter semester 2023/24 and take your chance at one of two start-up scholarships. Inform now at www.h-brs.de/start-up-development.
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