// STARTUP COMPARISON
CornerJob vs Aplazame
CornerJob failed in 2019 due to Competition. Aplazame failed in 2022 due to Acquisition Gone Wrong. Different causes, different sectors, different eras — but the same simulation outcome.
| METRIC | 🔥 CornerJob | 🔥 Aplazame |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Marketplace | Fintech |
| Country | Spain | Spain |
| Founded | 2015 | 2013 |
| Died | 2019 | 2022 |
| Raised | $40M | €15M |
| Peak | $40M raised | Acquired by WiZink 2017 |
| Primary Cause | Competition | Acquisition Gone Wrong |
// WHY EACH FAILED
🔥 CornerJob
Competition
CornerJob built a mobile-first job marketplace targeting blue-collar workers in Spain, France, Italy and Brazil. Backed by Rocket Internet, it raised $40M and reached 5M users. The platform faced a dual competitive assault: Indeed dominated employer budgets on SEO, and LinkedIn began targeting non-professional workers. Without differentiated employer relationships or a genuine network effect, CornerJob became a paid traffic arbitrage business with deteriorating unit economics. Rocket Internet wrote down the investment in 2019.
// LESSON
Job boards without proprietary employer relationships are paid traffic businesses. When Indeed controls the organic channel, every candidate costs money. At scale, the margins never appear.
Job boards without proprietary employer relationships are paid traffic businesses. When Indeed controls the organic channel, every candidate costs money. At scale, the margins never appear.
🔥 Aplazame
Acquisition Gone Wrong
Aplazame was Spain's early BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) leader, acquired by WiZink Bank in 2017 for an undisclosed sum. Post-acquisition, Aplazame was integrated into WiZink's consumer finance products and its brand gradually disappeared. By 2022, Aplazame as an independent product no longer existed — absorbed into WiZink's broader offering while global BNPL leaders like Klarna and Afterpay dominated the space the company had pioneered.
// LESSON
Being acquired by a traditional bank as a fintech is not an exit — it is a slow disappearance. Banks acquire to neutralize competition, not to scale the product. Aplazame pioneered BNPL in Spain and ended up as a footnote in WiZink's product catalog.
Being acquired by a traditional bank as a fintech is not an exit — it is a slow disappearance. Banks acquire to neutralize competition, not to scale the product. Aplazame pioneered BNPL in Spain and ended up as a footnote in WiZink's product catalog.
// EXPLORE FURTHER