Lendstar’s fintech light shines no more
Munich-based Lendstar has had to file for bankruptcy as it was unable to find buyers, partners or more financing.
“The bitter step into insolvency”
Christopher Kampshoff, founder and CEO of Lendstar, says: “Yesterday [28 August] we had to file for bankruptcy. In recent weeks, we have had very good discussions with various parties about a potential sale of Lendstar. Unfortunately, none of these discussions became sufficiently concrete. Therefore, together with our current investors, we decided not to continue financing Lendstar.”
Lendstar saw itself as a social finance app for paying and chatting among friends. It was free and it worked with all German and Austrian banks.
It was financed through licence fees paid by the banks for the co-branding versions of its app.
In an understandably sombre mood, Kampshoff reflects on the firm’s history.
It started as a pure P2P platform for borrowing money among friends. The Lendstar app then developed into a platform for payments among private individuals.
It got partnerships, including with Amazon and Zalando, built interfaces for offline trading, and made the purchase of mobile phone credit possible.
Kampshoff explains: “This has enabled us to significantly increase our user base, and usage has grown significantly in recent months. At the same time, we have at least doubled our operating revenue through partnerships and attractive offers over the last three years each year.”
But this growth was not enough to make Lendstar “sustainably profitable”.
It sought more investments from its existing circle of investors and was trying to find a partner over the past few months. All to no avail.
Kampshoff says: “After all, this was the reason why our existing investors, in coordination with the team, did not seek further financing and decided to take the bitter step into insolvency.”
Despite all this, he says: “We will try everything to get the app and to continue the service for you.”
FinTech Futures contacted Lendstar for details about how the app will work in light of the bankruptcy.
The company responds: “Systems are running and this should stay so. We are looking for a buyer who takes over the assets.”
