FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned from sources in Germany that Berlin based fintech RIDE has surprisingly filed for bankruptcy. Dr. Björn Gehde from insolvency specialists Hilgers und Partner has been appointed as insolvency administrator, and is actively working with the company’s management to find new sources of funding, and avoid the potential closure of RIDE by reorganizing the company with fresh capital.

RIDE (at website ride.capital) was founded in 2018 by Berlin based fintech entrepreneurs Felix Schulte and Christine Kiefer. Their initial idea, at the height of the initial “tokenization” craze, was to use blockchain technology to tokenize real estate for retail investors. The basic premise was that ownership of property would be converted into digital tokens that can then be traded, similar to equities on the stock market.

More recently, RIDE changed its model to focus on tax-enhanced online investing for wealthy retail investors and traders in Germany – specifically, helping retail investors to create and manage their own GmbH for investing. RIDE also offered tax-enhanced online CFDs trading, via Interactive Brokers and BaFin-licensed CFDs broker FXFlat, which was recently acquired by Trading 212, as was also exclusively reported here at FNG over the summer.

Late last year RIDE brought on board former FXFlat CEO Samed Yilmaz as Managing Director, to take over the day-to-day operation of RIDE from the company’s founders, and also to help grow its online brokerage operations.

RIDE has attracted a number of high profile German investors, including Germany national team footballer Mario Götze. However the company seems to have hit a short term liquidity crunch, leading to the appointment of an insolvency administrator.

RIDE’s website claims that the company has helped found more than 1,500 GmbHs, with more than €700 million under administration. The company raised €3 million in a second round of financing in 2022, following a €1.5 million first round that was raised in 2021, and a pre-seed round of €1 million in 2020.

The RIDE website now has a pop-up leading to the following downloadable notice (translated from the original German).

RIDE is negotiating continuation in a new corporate form

The entire RIDE team, in particular the management, currently represented by Samed Yilmaz and the appointed provisional insolvency administrator Dr. Björn Gehde from Hilgers & Partner, are looking to the future with confidence.

Within a few days, several substantial offers and letters of commitment have been received from well known investors and established market participants. Further purchase offers are in preparation. RIDE is already negotiating intensively with interested parties.

There is therefore great confidence that the company will continue to exist in a different corporate form. The management sees this as confirmation that RIDE is a company with good substance and enormous potential.

The entire RIDE team continues to work intensively on the operational business and ensures that the interests of our existing customers are protected. Deposits of broker customers are held by the custodian partner banks Interactive Brokers or FXFlat Bank and are therefore not affected in any way by the insolvency proceedings.