Crowdpark has filed for insolvency in a move which has come as a shock to most people in Berlin’s tech scene. The well-established social betting startup was seemingly riding high following the success of its Euro 2012 quiz game 90Live – and it has raised a total of $8 million, with $6 million of that coming in last year’s Series B round led by Target Partners and Earlybird.
But CEO Martin Frindt confirmed to Silicon Allee today that the company has filed for insolvency. He did, however, emphasize that operations were continuing as normal with no layoffs, and that Crowdpark had more than one option moving forward.
Like so many insolvency situations – especially amongst startups, which by definition sail closer to the wind in terms of paying the bills every month – Crowdpark’s was a surprise. Less than a week beforehand, Crowdpark, which was founded in 2009 by Frindt, Christoph Jenke and Ingo Hinterding, had sponsored a Berlin Geekettes event at Google’s HQ in the German capital.
And its lineup of games had also been becoming increasingly impressive, with Pet Vegas and AnteUp also added in recent months.
So perhaps the shockwaves should actually be interpreted as a positive sign. After all, a startup with an established and proven team and a strong product line in a sector estimated to be worth $6.2 billion this year could emerge from insolvency all the stronger for it.
For now, though, it’s all about getting through it. As we have said before, it would be a shame to see an established tech startup disappear for good.