May 11, 2025

Business

ZestMoney founders quit as fintech startup fails to raise capital

IANS | May 16, 2023 11:12 AM

The founders of ZestMoney, India's digital EMI financing platform, have reportedly resigned as the Goldman Sachs-backed fintech startup has failed to raise fresh capital.

According to a TechCrunch report, its founders Lizzie Chapman, Priya Sharma and Ashish Anantharaman informed employees about their decision via an email.

"Over the last few weeks, we have done a lot of thinking and it has been hard for us to arrive at this conclusion. We have immense belief and faith in the potential that ZestMoney has, " the founders wrote.

"We will also ensure to provide full support to the incoming management team and do everything we can to support them for the next 4 months to ensure a smooth transition, " they added.

Chapman said that she and other founders remain shareholders in ZestMoney.

The founder's decision came after a potential deal to acquire ZestMoney by leading fintech company PhonePe fell through recently.

ZestMoney was valued at $445 million last year and has raised over $130 million from a range of investors, like Ribbit Capital, Omidyar Network, PayU, Xiaomi and Alteria Capital, among others.

Last month, Bengaluru-based ZestMoney laid off about 20 per cent of its workforce, which impacted nearly 100 employees.

The company last year had a network of merchants with more than 10, 000 online partners and 75, 000 physical stores.

It reported a registered user base of 17 million and was live at 85, 000 retail touch-points across the country.

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