Money-back company
Maschmeyer start-up is insolvent
Rightnow helped to reclaim money from airlines, Netflix or gyms. Now the start-up in which Carsten Maschmeyer invested has registered bankruptcy.
Whether flight cancellation, Netflix price increase or online gambling: Since 2016, Rightnow has claimed more than half a million consumers to get their money back. Now the legal tech startup itself has a money problem. The Düsseldorf-based company had to file for bankruptcy, as Rightnow boss Phillip Eitschet confirmed to various media.
The reason for the bankruptcy is the failure of a planned round of financing, Eiischet told the founder scene portal. “Due to the absence of the sources of financing for the original business model of Rightnow GmbH and then – despite intensive efforts on the part of the equity investors and founders – the insolvency of rightnow GmbH was unavoidable as a result.”
Rightnow had Carsten Maschmeyer and Ingo Lenßen on board
Recently, apparently it no longer helped that Rightnow has been able to win a number of prominent investors and advertising media since it was founded nine years ago. In 2018, billionaire Carsten Maschmeyer invested 25 million euros in the start-up with other investors. The well-known TV lawyer Ingo Lenßen moved to the advisory board in 2019 and acted as a brand ambassador.
The Rightnow’s business model works as follows: Under the motto “Sell your problem”, the portal advertises that customers assign their legal claims against companies to them. Consumers receive a “immediate reimbursement” from Rightnow, which is lower than the actual sum. Afterwards, the company’s lawyers try to collect the claim. If reminders alone do not lead to the goal, Rightnow sets on collective suits.
In addition to the classic flight cancellation, Rightnow also took care of claims in car damage or illegally increased contributions from Netflix to private health insurance. In addition, the company recently relocated losses that players had suffered from online gambling and sports betting. However, this was difficult due to a legally unambiguous situation.
The Rightnow founders do not want to give up the business with collecting money claims. Some time ago you founded a second company called RN Incasso with a changed business model. This is not affected by the bankruptcy and will continue to make the demands of consumers money.
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Source: Stern
