// STARTUP COMPARISON
Flanks vs Clínica Sim
Flanks failed in 2024 due to Bad Timing. Clínica Sim failed in 2023 due to Unit Economics. Different causes, different sectors, different eras — but the same simulation outcome.
| METRIC | 🔥 Flanks | 🔥 Clínica Sim |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Fintech | Healthtech |
| Country | Spain | Brazil |
| Founded | 2019 | 2019 |
| Died | 2024 | 2023 |
| Raised | €10M | $40M |
| Peak | €10M raised | $150M valuation (2022) |
| Primary Cause | Bad Timing | Unit Economics |
// WHY EACH FAILED
🔥 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.
🔥 Clínica Sim
Unit Economics
Clínica Sim was a Brazilian telehealth platform offering $5 video consultations, subsidized by partnerships with health insurance plans (operadoras). The business model required health plan partners to pay a per-consultation fee, but Brazilian operadoras saw telehealth as a cost-saving tool and negotiated fees down from $12 to $4 per consultation over 18 months. With unit economics inverted — $5 consultation cost vs. $4 plan revenue — and B2C patients unwilling to pay $10+, the company raised a bridge in 2022 and shut in 2023.
// LESSON
Never build a B2B2C model where the B decides the price and the C is too price-sensitive to cover the shortfall. Health insurance companies have pricing power and procurement teams — startups do not.
Never build a B2B2C model where the B decides the price and the C is too price-sensitive to cover the shortfall. Health insurance companies have pricing power and procurement teams — startups do not.
// EXPLORE FURTHER