Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) fintech startup ZestMoney on Tuesday said its fresh funding round from existing investors is expected to close in a few weeks, as it appointed a new leadership a day after all three of its founders resigned following a failed merger with PhonePe.
The new funding round will see participation from existing shareholders, including Quona Capital, Zip, Omidyar Network India, Flourish VC, and Scarlet Digital, the company said, adding that the capital will support the future growth of the business and finance the path to profitability.
It was not immediately clear whether the company would raise a debt or an equity round.
The company has also named a new leadership team consisting of senior VP of growth Abhishek Sharma; chief banking officer Mandar Satpute; and Mohit Chhajer, VP of Finance and FinOps at ZestMoney.
The new appointment comes a day after former CEO of ZestMoney Lizzie Chapman, along with CFO and COO Priya Sharma and CTO Ashish Anantharaman, announced their resignation on Monday in a letter to the employees.
“Over the last few weeks, we have done a lot of thinking about the best path forward for ourselves, given where the company is at. And whilst it has been very hard for us to arrive at this conclusion, we have decided that we will step back from our day-to-day operating roles with ZestMoney,” Chapman wrote in a LinkedIn post.
Cash-strapped ZestMoney suffered a major setback as PhonePe’s planned acquisition of the company did not materialise due to concerns raised during the platform’s due diligence process.
According to media reports, ZestMoney laid off almost 100 employees of its 450-member team in April. The departure of the founders is expected to bring uncertainty to the remaining employees of ZestMoney.
