Exclusive: Fampay lays off staff; sees top level exits

Fampay has had a tough last couple of weeks. The teen-focused fintech startup has let go some of its employees while also losing some of its top level employees in the past few weeks, three sources aware of the matter told Entrackr.

One of the sources said that the people who have left include: Shobhit Gupta (head of engineering), Brijesh Bhardwaj (product and growth), Fatema Raja (Design).

At the same time, sources said, the company has fired nearly 50 employees to cut costs and extend their runway. But, Fampay’s co-founder and chief executive officer Sambhav Jain denied this, saying,“...we had to let go of less than 10 people across all levels in the overall company due to team restructuring.”

Nearly two years ago, Fampay scooped up $38 million in one of the largest Series A financings for any Indian startup — but hadn’t raised any more money since then. Till date, the company has raised around $42.7 million from the likes of Elevation Capital, Sequoia Capital, Venture Highway, Y Combinator, Greenoaks Capital, Kunal Shah, and Amrish Rau, among others.

Sources also said that the company has been in the market to raise new money but talks hadn’t materialised. “The firm is also exploring M&A opportunities,” said another source. Jain, however, denied this completely. “We haven’t been out in the market to raise and never engaged with anyone for M&A,” he added.

FamPay operates as a neobank that enables teenagers to make online (UPI & P2P) and offline payments without a bank account. It has a user base of over 10 million.

The Bengaluru-based company,which has completed four years of operations, has failed to deliver in terms of scale and controlling expenses. During FY22, the company registered Rs 3 crore in operating revenue while its expenses surpassed Rs 50 crore mark. According to its annual financial statement with the RoC, the company posted a loss of Rs 43.3 crore during the same period.