Homegrown fintech startup ZestMoney to shut down

Homegrown digital EMI financing platform ZestMoney, backed by Goldman Sachs, is shutting down operations after several unsuccessful attempts to find a buyer, media reported on Wednesday.

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

According to a report in TechCrunch, the startup's new leadership informed the employees about the decision to shut down on Tuesday.

“The startup will fully wind down by the end of the month, the leadership said,” according to the report.

There was no official word from ZestMoney on winding up its operations.

The buy now, pay later (BNPL) startup gave small loans to first-time internet customers.

In May this year, the founders of ZestMoney resigned as the fintech startup failed to raise fresh capital.

A potential deal to acquire ZestMoney by leading fintech company PhonePe fell through recently.

Bengaluru-based ZestMoney earlier 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.