At the trading app nextmarkets, the sellout starts, followed by liquidation. Still, in 2021, the FinTech raised €30 million and had big plans. Investor FinLab refers to the “weakness in the financing market” concerning the planned end of nextmarkets.
Cologne-based neobroker nextmarkets, founded in 2014 by brothers Manuel Heyden and Dominic Heyden, is facing liquidation. The listed Cryptology Asset Group, i.e., entrepreneur Christian Angermayer, DEWB and Co., last invested (2021) still 30 million US dollars in the company. At the time, the capital was intended to “accelerate European expansion,” in particular. PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel also invested €3.5 million in nextmarkets in 2016 together with FinLab and Extrotel.
The Cologne-based startup launched as a learning and training platform for the stock market. Then the young company positioned itself as “Europe’s fee-free online broker.” With that, the company competed with heavyweights like Trade Republic. “With Peter Thiel, the most prominent backer behind Nextmarkets 2020, decided to invest in Trade Republic – the direct competition. Nextmarkets already had to manage the big 30 million round without him,” Finance Forward writes on the planned end of nextmarkets.
Investor FinLab states: “Against the background of the challenging situation on the public capital markets and the weakness on the financing market, the Management Board of nextmarkets AG has decided to sell all subsidiaries, respectively their assets as well as other assets of nextmarkets AG. Following these transactions, the liquidation of nextmarkets AG is to be proposed to the Annual General Meeting of nextmarkets AG.”
FinLab currently holds just under 34% of nextmarkets and has invested approximately 8.8 million in the FinTech in recent years. “However, the management board of FinLab AG assumes that the amount of the acquisition costs of the shares in nextmarkets AG and the amount of the loan extended will not be reached, and thus a loss according to HGB accounting could be incurred by FinLab AG in the amount of up to approximately 8.8 million euros”, the lender further informs.
According to the annual financial statements, FinTech 2020 generated a net loss of €5.6 million (previous year: 2.8 million). The young company’s development by the end of 2020 already cost about €20 million. Thus, a further financial injection would have been necessary promptly. Given the current investment situation, this would not have been easy, perhaps even impossible. In addition, nextmarkets’ competitors are already much further along and better equipped financially.
