Elephants
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
Some sections are still being researched2 / 4
Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Elephants, founded in 2022 in Manno, Switzerland by Paolo Catalano and Gianvito Grasso, was a community-driven platform that fractionalized iconic luxury watches. Users bought fractions of selected unique, vintage, out-of-production timepieces via blockchain-based ownership tokens; Elephants stored the watches in a Swiss vault and helped co-owners time resale. The company launched in June 2023 with a 500,000-Swiss-franc (about $560,000) pre-seed round; in May 2024 Zug-based Splint Invest acquired all of Elephants' assets.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company founded
Paolo Catalano and Gianvito Grasso found Elephants in Manno to fractionalize luxury watches.
- Peak funding round
Elephants launches in June 2023 alongside a 500,000-Swiss-franc pre-seed round from angel investors.
- Acquisition
On May 17, 2024, Splint Invest acquires all of Elephants' assets.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.