Amid fundraise struggles, neobank Fi pivots to B2B offerings

Neobank Fi is shifting its strategy towards B2B offerings, CEO Sujith Narayanan said in a LinkedIn post. The Bengaluru based company has faced fundraise challenges and other operational issues in recent months.

In the post, Narayanan said the company undertook an internal review to assess where it delivers its strongest problem solving. He said the leadership team identified deep technology, artificial intelligence, and complex system development as Fi’s core strengths.

Fi, which provides millennial focused digital banking solutions with savings accounts, has raised around $147 million to date and was valued in the range of $520 million to $550 million after its last tranche in July 2022.

Narayanan added that Fi’s next chapter will focus on the intersection of AI and B2B, with an emphasis on building technology solutions for startups and large enterprises. He said this strategic realignment will lead to the sunsetting of some products, which will impact certain roles within the company.

This is not the first round of layoffs at Fi. In 2023, the company laid off around 10 percent of its workforce, or about 30 employees, citing strategic restructuring.

Narayanan said these decisions are related to how the company needs to be structured going forward and are not linked to individual performance or talent. He also said the shift does not take away from Fi’s consumer journey and that its previous products and customer experiences contributed to the company’s evolution.

Separately, sources told Entrackr that Fi is also exploring a potential acquisition and currently has a runway of around six months. According to sources, the company has held acquisition discussions with Jupiter, Slice, and Razorpay, though the talks did not go through.

Entrackr has reached out to Fi for comment.