What's happening inside Rocket Internet’s ailing startup factory

In November 2015, Oliver Samwer had a new investment to pitch. The charismatic founder of Rocket Internet, a Berlin-based incubator famous for churning out copycat startups based on successful U.S. tech companies, was touting his latest baby, a kind of Airbnb for college undergrads called Nestpick. Samwer’s team invited Luxembourg venture firm Mangrove Capital Partners to co-invest and extolled Nestpick’s growth potential and the power of Rocket’s globe-girdling startup machine.