BNPL is dead, long live BNPL

BNPL—once the buzziest of buzzwords in India’s startup circles—is now a four-letter word not commonly uttered in polite society. Industry sources suggest most fintech companies, even if they have a BNPL offering, do not want to be associated with the segment. Even those once considered champions of the model seem to want to distance themselves from its notoriety.

When asked about people already writing the sector’s obituary, outgoing ZestMoney CEO Lizzie Chapman said that BNPL doesn’t actually mean anything. “I never understand what people mean by BNPL, though, because it means very different things in different markets or to different people. We, at Zest, never used to use the word BNPL. It’s just a marketing phrase,” Chapman said in an exclusive interview with The CapTable.

It’s little wonder that Chapman—despite her social media posts being littered with mentions of BNPL—is no longer keen on the BNPL tag. Over the past year, ZestMoney has struggled for funding, seen an acquisition by payments major PhonePe fall through (reportedly over due diligence concerns), and laid off around a third of its workforce. Its founders, Chapman included, have all since resigned.

Their successors face an uphill task to turn the business around, with ZestMoney’s revenue unable to keep pace with its skyrocketing expenses. While the company saw its revenue grow nearly 63% to Rs 145 crore in the year ended March 2022, its losses in the same period ballooned 217% to Rs 398.8 crore. Chapman declined to comment on the future direction of the company, saying it would be “unfair to the new management”.