ZestMoney To Shut Down

Fintech startup ZestMoney, which popularised the 'buy now, pay later' product, will be shutting down by the end of this year, after failing to secure funds or find a buyer.

The startup's management informed employees that it will be winding up operations and the remaining 150 employees will be let go. In April, it had fired about 100 employees as part of its survival plan.

This development comes roughly six months after ZestMoney's three co-founders and key executives stepped down from their daily duties at the startup, months after a failed acquisition deal with PhonePe.

It had then said it was "finalising a funding round" from existing shareholders such as Quona Capital, Zip, Omidyar Network India, Flourish VC and Scarlet Digital, and the money was expected to come in the "next few weeks".

ZestMoney did not formally respond to BQ Prime's queries.

Founded in Bengaluru in 2015, ZestMoney raised close to $130 million across its lifetime and accrued as many as 1.7 crore registered users, it said.