Banking for the TikTok generation – that’s how the founders of Ruuky (website) hoped to find a place next to N26. But now the fintech is facing bankruptcy despite its 250,000 users and more than 230.000 TitTok followers. Through the insolvency proceedings, the company now wants to preserve the jobs of the 20-member team and obtain further financing, the fintech says.
Two years ago, Jes Hennig and his friends launched Ruuky (then called Pockid), a teen banking app. Risky mainly because Berlin-based industry leader N26 had previously abandoned such a business model without success. Managing pocket money via an app and enabling initial debit card payments that hardly paid off. The period in which the product would interest young people seemed too short.
Ruuky founder Jes Hennig called Ruuky’s business model “Social Interactive Banking.” The fintech engaged in target group-specific marketing at Tiktok: employees performed short video sketches, had passersby compete against each other in mental arithmetic, or explained technical terms such as inflation and monopoly. More than 230,000 followers and around 2.7 million likes were thus gathered on Tiktok.
However, that was not enough for sustained success. On January 4, Ruuky filed for insolvency proceedings. No new investors were found to finance further growth. Previously, around four million euros in venture capital had flowed into the company.
“We have not been able to get new capital in the current market environment. This makes us incredibly sad, as we had a great 2022,” said Jes Hennig, co-founder and CEO of Ruuky. “Our customer growth and relevance on Gen-Z channels shows a need for a modern, safe and educational banking approach for young people. That said, we have to accept that market realities have changed for capital-intensive startups.”