Following the recent announcement of the shutdown of Bengaluru-based fintech company ZestMoney, there is growing speculation about potential acquirers. According to The Economic Times, non-banking companies DMI Finance and Aditya Birla Finance are emerging as the frontrunners in the race to acquire the fintech firm.

The news platform, citing two individuals familiar with the situation, reported that discussions are underway, and finalisation is anticipated soon. Both the partners of Birla Finance and DMI Finance fintech have reportedly examined the financials of the company.

The lenders want to acquire not just the tech platform but also consider taking control of the loan book that ZestMoney has built. The fintech currently holds a loan book of approximately Rs 400 crore, which it sourced for its lender partners.

In the first week of this month, ZestMoney announced the shutting down of operations. Founded in 2015 by Lizzie Chapman, Priya Sharma, and Ashish Anantharaman (who resigned from the company a few months ago), ZestMoney operates an EMI and pay-later network. ZestMoney disburses funds directly to the merchant from its lending partner, enabling customers to repay the lender in small installments over time instead of paying the full purchase amount upfront.

The fintech had raised about $140 million from Omidyar Network, Prosus, Quona Zip, Ribbit Capital, and Goldman Sachs along with other investors.

The tough times started for the company after acquisition talks fell through with PhonePe. The founders resigned and handed over the company to new management to fix things, but unfortunately, it didn't work out.

The company had a customer base of 1.7 crore, disbursing loans of around Rs 400 crore every month. It worked with 27 different lenders and partnered with 10 thousand online brands and 75 thousand offline stores.