Aufort

Buy, store, send, and withdraw physical gold online

Epitaph

“Here lies Aufort. An Estonian gold dealer turned bullion into a digital account, then came to Nairobi to sell Kenyans gold by the gram over M-Pesa. Thirty months later it cited only a combination of circumstances. The gold was meant to outlast the currency. The company did not.”

Overview

Born: 2014 (Year)
Died: 1 October 2026
Lifespan: 13 years
Fate: Shut down
Headquarters: 🇰🇪 Kenya
Category: Fintech
Founders: Bert-Ken Raudberg, Rene Sildvee
Primary cause: Unknown

Death certificate

Timeline

2014Founded
Aufort is established in Estonia as a precious-metals investment and trading company
November 2020First community funding round
Aufort raises €200,000 from 61 investors in nine days and joins the Tehnopol Startup Incubator in the autumn
June 2021Digital gold platform launch
Aufort launches its digital gold e-shop for buying, storing, selling and withdrawing gold, with a €1 million gold giveaway for new traders
November 2021Second community funding round
Aufort raises €235,000 from 105 investors in three weeks using Ignium's blockchain-securities infrastructure
2 April 2024Kenya launch
Aufort enters Kenya in partnership with the Fintech Association of Kenya (FINTAK), adding M-Pesa payments for buying digital gold
1 October 2026Operations discontinued
Aufort's Kenyan and global sites announce that, due to a combination of circumstances, it has discontinued operations as of 1 October 2026

Autopsy report

Why did Aufort shut down?

Aufort was an Estonian precious-metals company, established in 2014 and led by founder and CEO Bert-Ken Raudberg, that turned investment gold into a digital account. Customers could buy gold in small amounts, hold it in audited and insured partner vaults, send it to anyone by email address, sell it back for cash, or withdraw it as physical bars from 1 gram, with ownership recorded on a distributed ledger. It launched the digital platform in June 2021, funded by two community rounds: EUR 200,000 from 61 investors in November 2020 and EUR 235,000 from 105 investors in November 2021.

In April 2024 Aufort entered Kenya in partnership with the Fintech Association of Kenya (FINTAK), adding M-Pesa payments and a Nairobi office, and pitched digital gold to Kenyans as a hedge against currency depreciation.

The Kenyan site and the global site now carry a notice that, due to a combination of circumstances, Aufort discontinued its operations as of 1 October 2026. The company has not published a more specific reason.

What Aufort attempted

Aufort set out to make gold as easy to hold as mobile money. Its founder described the goal in 2020 as a next-generation gold bank, where people could trade gold, deposit it, borrow against it and pay with it. The product it shipped was a digital gold account: buy from small amounts, store in audited and insured partner vaults, send gold free of charge to any email address, sell back to cash on demand, set up automatic purchases, or withdraw physical bars from 1 gram. Ownership was recorded on Obyte's directed acyclic graph ledger. In Kenya it added M-Pesa funding and marketed gold as a store of value against currency depreciation.

What worked

Aufort had a real precious-metals business before it went digital. By December 2020 it reported turnover of EUR 350,000, more than triple the previous year, and nearly 113,000 grams of precious metals sold. Its community backed it twice: EUR 200,000 from 61 investors in nine days in November 2020, and EUR 235,000 from 105 investors in three weeks in November 2021. The June 2021 platform launch came with a EUR 1 million gold giveaway for new traders, and by then it had sold just over 124,000 grams of gold and silver to thousands of Estonian customers. In April 2024 it launched in Kenya with the Fintech Association of Kenya, after launching across 30 European countries.

Early warning signs

The 2020 plan was a second round of up to EUR 1 million to expand across Europe and into Africa; the round that closed in November 2021 raised EUR 235,000. Aufort Invest OU, the investment vehicle registered in November 2020, has been listed as a passive company since 2022. The Kenya launch was announced through a local industry association, and no Kenyan user, transaction or revenue figures were published afterwards.

What happened

Aufort's Kenyan site, its global site and its newsletter page now carry the same short notice: due to a combination of circumstances, the company has made the difficult decision to discontinue Aufort's operations as of 1 October 2026. The notice thanks customers for their trust. It gives no specific reason, and no public instructions for selling or withdrawing gold were found alongside it. No press coverage of the closure was found in Kenyan or Estonian media.

What future founders can learn

A custodial store-of-value product is sold on trust, so its exit plan is part of the product. When a platform that holds customers' gold closes, the public notice should say plainly how customers sell, withdraw or transfer what they hold, and by when. Expanding into a new continent also needs its own runway: a small company funded by a few hundred thousand euros of community money stretched across Europe and Kenya has little room to wait for a new market to mature.

Lessons for future builders

A platform that holds customers' assets is sold on trust, so the exit plan is part of the product. A closure notice should tell customers exactly how to sell, withdraw or transfer what they hold, and by when, not just that operations have ended.
Entering a new continent needs its own runway. A small company funded by a few hundred thousand euros of community money has little room to wait for a new market like Kenya to mature while it is also expanding across Europe.