// STARTUP COMPARISON
Badi vs Flanks
Badi failed in 2022 due to Bad Timing. Flanks failed in 2024 due to Bad Timing. Both failed for the same reason — Bad Timing.
| METRIC | 🔥 Badi | 🔥 Flanks |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Proptech | Fintech |
| Country | Spain | Spain |
| Founded | 2015 | 2019 |
| Died | 2022 | 2024 |
| Raised | $30M | €10M |
| Peak | $30M raised | €10M raised |
| Primary Cause | Bad Timing | Bad Timing |
// WHY EACH FAILED
🔥 Badi
Bad Timing
Badi built a Tinder-style matching app for room rentals in urban markets (Barcelona, Madrid, London, NYC). The model depended entirely on urban density — young professionals needing affordable shared housing near work. COVID emptied city centers as remote work spread. Demand for urban room rentals collapsed in 2020-2021. By the time urban density recovered, cheaper competitors (Idealista, Fotocasa, SpareRoom) had consolidated the market. Badi shut down its platform in 2022.
// LESSON
Marketplaces that depend on urban density have zero pandemic resilience. Badi needed people in cities and needed them to be price-constrained. Remote work broke both assumptions simultaneously.
Marketplaces that depend on urban density have zero pandemic resilience. Badi needed people in cities and needed them to be price-constrained. Remote work broke both assumptions simultaneously.
🔥 Flanks
Bad Timing
Flanks built open finance infrastructure for wealth managers and banks in Spain, allowing them to aggregate client portfolios across custodians. The product was technically sound and the market need genuine. However, Spanish banks moved extremely slowly on open finance adoption, and the regulatory framework (PSD2 extensions for investment data) remained incomplete. Sales cycles of 18-24 months with major banks proved incompatible with startup runway. The company wound down in 2024 after Series A fell through.
// LESSON
B2B fintech selling to Spanish banks requires 3x the runway of a typical startup sales cycle. If you can't sign a pilot in 6 months, assume 24 months to revenue. Build the financial model accordingly or don't start.
B2B fintech selling to Spanish banks requires 3x the runway of a typical startup sales cycle. If you can't sign a pilot in 6 months, assume 24 months to revenue. Build the financial model accordingly or don't start.
// EXPLORE FURTHER