// STARTUP COMPARISON
Liv Up vs Aplazame
Liv Up failed in 2023 due to Unit Economics. Aplazame failed in 2022 due to Acquisition Gone Wrong. Different causes, different sectors, different eras — but the same simulation outcome.
| METRIC | 🔥 Liv Up | 🔥 Aplazame |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Ecommerce | Fintech |
| Country | Brazil | Spain |
| Founded | 2016 | 2013 |
| Died | 2023 | 2022 |
| Raised | $200M | €15M |
| Peak | $400M valuation (2021) | Acquired by WiZink 2017 |
| Primary Cause | Unit Economics | Acquisition Gone Wrong |
// WHY EACH FAILED
🔥 Liv Up
Unit Economics
Liv Up became Brazil's leading direct-to-consumer healthy food brand with $200M raised, selling frozen nutritious meals via its own e-commerce and via iFood. The cold chain delivery model required refrigerated trucks, specialized packaging, and 4-hour delivery windows. COGS on frozen meal delivery in Brazil ran at 72% — leaving 28% gross margin before marketing or overheads. With CAC averaging $35 and LTV at $110 after 12 months, the payback period was 14 months. Post-COVID demand normalization in 2022 cut orders 30%. Liv Up entered restructuring in Q1 2023.
// LESSON
Healthy food + DTC sounds like a winning combination until you model the cold chain COGS. Every premium positioning decision (organic, portioned, certified) adds cost that the refrigeration premium has already consumed. You need 60% gross margins to build a DTC brand. Frozen delivery gives you 28%.
Healthy food + DTC sounds like a winning combination until you model the cold chain COGS. Every premium positioning decision (organic, portioned, certified) adds cost that the refrigeration premium has already consumed. You need 60% gross margins to build a DTC brand. Frozen delivery gives you 28%.
🔥 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