Windhorst sells Fyber shares for 500 million euros

In 2014, Lars Windhorst bought into the start-up Fyber for 160 million euros, and now he is selling 90 percent of his shares to a Texan company and making a tidy profit.

Seven years ago, Lars Windhorst got into the start-up Fyber for 160 million euros. Now, according to a DPA report, Texas-based Digital Turbine Inc. is taking over 90 percent of the shares held by Windhorst's company Tennor. The value of the shares is half a billion euros.

Fyber was founded in 2009 and deals with intelligent, mobile advertising. Through the start-up, customers can develop a strategy for monetizing their advertising. Fyber says it reaches over 350 million end users a month through its advertising. Digital Turbine also focuses on the digital advertising business, which means it is present on half a billion end devices worldwide. Thus, the companies strengthen each other in the market.

Time and again, Fyber bought other startups for their technologies. Last year, it had the strongest fourth quarter in its history, with 2020 revenue of 210 million euros - a 76 percent increase over 2019.

Lars Windhorst became known as the "German wunderkind" in the 90s, founding several companies and expanding into Asia. In the dotcom bubble he crashed financially, in 2010 he was convicted of embezzlement. With his company Sapinda, he successfully invested in various companies, in 2019 he renamed Sapinda to Tennor, and in the same year he invested in the football club Hertha BSC.