ZestMoney founders quit as fintech startup fails to raise capital

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 founders' 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.