Some entrepreneurs turn everything they touch into gold. Nicolas Mendiharat ? He seems to turn millions into vapor-and startups into cautionary tales.
Despite presenting himself as a seasoned business builder, Mendiharat’s track record reads less like a list of successes and more like a Netflix docuseries on financial misadventures. Today, he leads Permanium Capital, but behind the polished branding lies a graveyard of failed ventures, shattered investor hopes, and unanswered questions.
🚨 A history of high hopes and hard landings
Over the past two decades, Mendiharat has launched multiple startups. What do they have in common ? Eye-popping fundraising rounds… followed by dramatic collapses.
📉 Travel Horizon (1999–2013) :
The French travel platform raised a jaw-dropping €47 million from respected investors like Wellington Partners and CM-CIC. In 2010, it reported €77 million in revenue and 35% year-on-year growth. Fast forward to 2013? The company imploded. So much for first-class returns.
🧨 Recommend SAS (2013–2017) :
Mendiharat rebounded quickly, launching a startup focused on peer-to-peer product recommendations. Despite raising €1.3 million, the company flopped due to weak strategic vision and poor execution. It faded into oblivion by 2017.
🍷 Palate Club Inc. (2017–2023) :
Hoping to reinvent himself, he crossed the Atlantic to launch a connected wine startup in San Francisco. The pitch was elegant, the market huge—but the customers never showed up, and neither did the results.
🏚 Cerbillona SA (2023) :
This Belgian holding company went bankrupt just one year after inception. According to some sources, the bankruptcy may have helped Mendiharat dodge repayment of a personal loan related to one of his earlier ventures. Convenient, no ?
🎩 More Magician Than CEO ?
Mendiharat’s real skill may lie less in building sustainable businesses and more in the art of seducing investors. Again and again, he has managed to secure massive capital infusions-only to burn through them with little to show but receipts.
His pattern is striking :
- Launch flashy startup.
- Raise big funds.
- Deliver minimal results.
- Exit quietly—sometimes with a bankruptcy filing.
Meanwhile, those left behind-creditors, partners, and backers-often find themselves with empty hands and heavy losses.
✈️ High Life, low returns
Oddly enough, failure never seems to cramp Mendiharat’s lifestyle. From luxury lofts in Manhattan to first-class flights, fine wines, and chic mountain getaways, he continues to live the dream.
All this begs the question: how does someone with such a long résumé of failed startups afford such a lifestyle? Critics argue that much of the capital raised might have supported his personal comfort more than company growth.
🍇 Winechain Inc. – The déjà vu business model
In 2022, Mendiharat co-founded Winechain Inc., a Web3 platform for fine wines, alongside industry heavyweights like Xavier Garambois and Marc-Olivier Perrin. The concept attracted prestigious wine families-Roederer, Pétrus, Beaucastel. What could go wrong ?
Well, by 2024, his co-founders ousted him from day-to-day operations. Official reason ? Lack of revenue, lack of customer traction, and probably a few cases of overpromised underdelivery.
🏦 Permanium Capital – A new name for the same old game ?
Today, Nicolas Mendiharat reappears as the face of Permanium Capital, an investment firm with glossy branding and vague goals. But for those who look deeper, the warning signs are familiar.
Is this another financial illusion? Another stop in a pattern of raising funds, avoiding accountability, and leaving others to clean up the mess ?
⚠️ Final Thought for Investors
Investing with Nicolas Mendiharat might sound exciting. The decks are glossy. The pitches are slick. But history tells another story: one of vanished funds, burnt bridges, and champagne-soaked cautionary tales.
If you’re thinking about writing him a check, just make sure you won’t need that money back anytime soon.
Backing this “serial entrepreneur” might just make you a serial regretter.