// STARTUP COMPARISON
Flanks vs Percentil
Flanks failed in 2024 due to Bad Timing. Percentil failed in 2019 due to Unit Economics. Different causes, different sectors, different eras — but the same simulation outcome.
| METRIC | 🔥 Flanks | 🔥 Percentil |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Fintech | Ecommerce |
| Country | Spain | Spain |
| Founded | 2019 | 2012 |
| Died | 2024 | 2019 |
| Raised | €10M | €5M |
| Peak | €10M raised | €5M raised |
| 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.
🔥 Percentil
Unit Economics
Percentil built a curated secondhand children's clothing marketplace in Spain, raising €5M and achieving strong early traction. The core unit economics problem: each transaction required photographing, categorizing, storing, and shipping individual low-value items (average basket €20-30). The logistics cost per item was too close to the item value to achieve positive margins at any realistic scale. The company shut down in 2019 after failing to raise Series B.
// LESSON
Secondhand marketplaces with sub-€40 average baskets face a structural logistics trap. The unit economics only work if the seller handles logistics (C2C), not the platform (managed). Percentil chose managed — and paid for it.
Secondhand marketplaces with sub-€40 average baskets face a structural logistics trap. The unit economics only work if the seller handles logistics (C2C), not the platform (managed). Percentil chose managed — and paid for it.
// EXPLORE FURTHER