The series of bad news continues: After CaptchaAd and Macandoo Lendstar is the third Munich startup to go bankrupt within a short period of time.
In the company blog writes Christopher Kampshoff, founder and managing director of the payment app:
"Five and a half wonderful, exciting, eventful years lie behind us. During this time, we have built a lot, learned a lot, and fought a lot. But now, unfortunately, we can no longer fight, and the path we must take is a difficult one."
Last Tuesday, the company was forced to file for insolvency. This followed "very good discussions" with various parties over the past few weeks regarding a possible sale of Lendstar. After these discussions failed to produce any results, the startup, together with its investors, decided to file for insolvency.
Lendstar app will continue to operate for the time being
According to its CEO, the company's revenues have at least doubled in each of the past three years. 2018 was also going well for Lendstar: "As of now, we have already reached the 2017 revenue level." But even this strong growth wasn't enough to break even.
Lendstar started as a pure P2P platform where friends could lend money to each other. Collaborations followed, including with Amazon and Zalando. During an appearance on the television show "Die Höhle der Löwen," the company persuaded Jochen Schweizer to invest. Since then, it has also been possible to pay with Lendstar in the experience provider's app.
For the time being, the payment app will remain functional and will continue to operate. Only the purchase of vouchers and credit will no longer be possible. According to the company, money transfers will remain secure.
