Klonando

murdering innovation one clone at a time

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Rocket Internet goes live with first mobile-only app – Postagram clone Cardagram

Rocket Internet’s Instagram-to-postcard app Cardagram now has a website and is on the way for iOS and Android – the latest move by the Berlin-based incubator away from straight e-commerce, following Pinspire and new mobile payments offering PayLeven.

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Samwers kill their Fab clone after just six months

Just months after the Samwer brothers courted controversy by cloning design sales site Fab.com, they are about to close their copycat site, Bamarang, down. German media has reported that the site, which was launched by the brothers’ Rocket Internet incubator and operated across a number of European countries, will be shutting down immediately as the investors switch their focus. It’s a swift execution for the site, which caused Fab.com founder Jason Goldberg to angrily label it a “complete rip-off” when it appeared in January — copying not just Fab’s business model, but also the site’s design.

But even though Bamarang is being shut down, it won’t be going away exactly.

According to conversations reported by Deutsche Startups, the energy that went into Bamarang is now being transferred to WestWing, another Rocket-funded entity focused on home decor sales that recently took $50 million in funding.

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In confidential email Samwer describes online furniture strategy as a ‘Blitzkrieg’

Rocket Internet, the Berlin-based incubator best known for German-language clones of US startups like Zappos and Groupon, now has big ambitions, especially in the online furniture space according to information passed to TechCrunch Europe.

In a confidential email sent by Oliver Samwer which we have confirmed is genuine, the head (with his brothers Marc and Alexander) of European Founders Fund and the driving force behind Rocket, says their strategy is to become “number one” in the ecommerce sector for furniture over the next year. But the language he uses – including the world “blitzkrieg” – indicates an aggressive and potentially insensitive management style which appears to be a ‘modus operandi’ of Rocket Internet culture. Samwer has since apologised for using the term.

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Rocket Internet startet HelloFresh – Start-up liefert Zutaten und Rezepte

EXKLUSIV Kurz vor Weihnachten schickt der Inkubator Rocket Internet, der zuletzt einige seinerwichtigsten Führungskräfte verloren hat, nach Informationen von deutsche-startups.de sein neuestes Projekt ins Netz. Mit HelloFresh (www.hellofresh.de) setzten die Berliner erneut auf Abo-Commerce, einer der 10 Trends, die die deutsche Gründerszene momentan bewegen. Das neue Start-up, das diesen Montag offiziell ins Netz ging, verspricht seinen Nutzern “Jede Woche frische Zutaten und leckere Rezepte frei Haus”. Im Angebot sind eine kleine und eine größe Tüte, die Zutaten für drei bzw. fünf “abwechslungsreiche Rezepte” liefert. Die kleine Tüte kostet für zwei Personen 35 Euro, die große Tüte 49 Euro. 

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Umbruch bei Rocket Internet: Mitten im Wandel zum globalen Internetkonzern geht fast das komplette Führungsteam

Der erfolgreiche Berliner Inkubator Rocket Internet, hinter dem die Samwer-Brüder Alexander, Marc und Oliver (auch an deutsche-startups.de beteiligt) stecken, steht vor dem Umbruch, einem ganz großen Umbruch. In der vergangenen Woche überschlugen sich die Gerüchte rund um Rocket in der Berliner Gründerszene. TechCrunch fasste die ersten Fakten bereits zusammen: Rund 20 wichtige Rocket-Mitarbeiter – darunter vor allem Angestellte aus der Führungsriege und Mit-Geschäftsführer Christian Weiß – verlassen den Inkubator. Nicht weil sie müssen, sondern freiwillig! Besonders bitter: Mit Rocket-Mitgründer Weiß verliert der Inkubator seinen wichtigsten Kopf. Und es kommt noch dicker: Auch Mit-Geschäftsführer Florian Heinemann, das Online-Marketing-Herz von Rocket, geht nach Informationen von deutsche-startups.de demnächst – vermutlich innerhalb der kommenden drei Monate. 

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We are German, we have kids.

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Rocket Misfires — Samwers lose key people ahead of huge fund raising to clone globally

The three Samwer brothers (Oliver, Marc and Alexander) founders of the Rocket Internetincubator in Berlin, are the most successful Internet entrepreneurs in Germany and possibly Europe. After launching and exiting multiple businesses, many of them clones/copycats of US startups, they are multi-millionaires. Indeed, their Groupon clone CityDeal sold to to Groupon for an estimated €750m in cash and shares. But much of that success looks threatened by the departure of at least 20 of its key staff in the last two weeks – including CTO- level people – and possibly as much as 40, according to multiple sources spoken to by TechCrunch Europe.

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German Copy/Paste Innovation

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Die Mischung aus Mehl und Margarine, ja?

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Copy, Paste, and Pin: The Samwer Brothers Launch Pinspire

Here to threaten Berlin’s claim to innovation is yet another Samwer clone. This time it’s Pinspire, an unabashed replicate of the US-based social photo-sharing site Pinterest. On Pinspire, users can “pin” and “repin” images from around the web in groups under personal headings like “Christmas Wish List,” “Recipes I Like,” and “Babies Wearing Bows.” Joining a wider international set of vision board-styled social sites (likeStorify and LikedBy), Pinspire takes up a universal cause while borrowing most visibly from industry leader Pinterest (March 2010 beta). Down to the distinctive red site motif, cursive logo and drag-and-drop bookmark pin button, Pinspire is a blatant knock-off. And it’s not shy about it.

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German Startup Community Makes Us Proud Once Again: Freundefeed

You haven’t arrived until your web application has a German clone, it seems. Web innovation in that country too often distills down to “copy/paste innovation.“

And now, Freundfeed, which doesn’t appear to be a joke. Not only is it a ripoff of the FriendFeed name, they also use the same logo. The service hasn’t launched yet, but I’m willing to make an educated guess and say that it will likely rip off the rest of FriendFeed, too.

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Google Buys German Groupon Clone DailyDeal

DailyDeal.de, a German Groupon clone launched in Berlin in December 2009, has been acquired byGoogle, the company says in a message on its website (see below). TheNextWeb reported the acquisition first (in English, at least).

Google hasn’t yet announced or confirmed the acquisition. DailyDeal did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement.

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Samwer brothers startup Zalando closes major round for its Zappos clone

Zalando, the Zappos clone started by the Samwer brothers through their investment vehicle Rocket Internet, has closed a new round of funding. The amount remains undisclosed but according to multiple sources it’s designed to supercharge the German e-commerce behemoth to the next level. Although speculative, when looking at the site’s traffic and data from similar sized companies, the pre-round-valuation is thought to be around €100 million.

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Airbnb Freaks Out Over Samwer Clones

You know what they say about imitation being the most sincere form of flattery? Well sometimes, like in the case of Groupon and its many imitators competitors, this type of flattery is also a huge business risk. The latest victim to get bombarded by an “attack of the clones”? Billion dollar darlingAirbnb.

Obviously feeling threatened by its recent crop of competitors, the company sent out an email yesterday to its over 100K hosts, warning them about “impostor websites” like 9flats, Wimdu and Airizu.