Fintech Startup CARD91’s Cofounder Kush Srivastava Quits

Bengaluru-based B2B fintech startup CARD91’s cofounder Kush Srivastava has quit the company.

As per his LinkedIn profile, Srivastava left the company in March 2023. The decision to step down came almost a year after the startup raised $13 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding round. 

As per CARD91’s website, Srivastava looked after payments infrastructure at the startup.

While Srivastava refused to comment on his exit, a spokesperson of CARD91 told Inc42 that he left the company due to personal reasons.

“Due to personal reasons, Kush Srivastava has stepped down from his position as cofounder of CARD91. We respect his choice to put his personal needs first and wish him luck in his future endeavours. We are grateful for Kush’s contributions to the business throughout the years in helping build a strong technology team,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“Kush will continue to own all of his CARD91 vested shares. The company continues to grow under the leadership of Ajay Pandey and Vineet Saxena. We have a talented team and a strategy to help grow the company,” the statement added.

 As of March 31, 2022, Srivastava held a 31.58% stake in CARD91. Other cofounders, Pandey and Saxena, also owned 31.58% stake each in the company.

CARD91, founded in 2020, offers a plug and play payment issuance infrastructure that helps businesses and banks launch co-branded cards.  

For non-banking businesses, the startup has a card issuance platform that manages payment flows from customer onboarding to transaction processing to data reconciliation. For banks, it has an API platform that helps them provide new-age payment services and card-based lending. 

The startup counts Infinity Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Sabre Partners, Blume Founders Fund, and Inflection Point Ventures among its investors. 

On the financial front, the startup reported nil operating revenue in FY22 despite being incorporated in January 2020. It earned INR 10.2 Lakh in other income in FY22, while its net loss surged 10X to INR 15.3 Cr from INR 1.5 Cr in FY21. Expenses zoomed 918% to INR 15.4 Cr from INR 1.5 Cr in FY21. 

Employee benefit expenses accounted for the largest chunk of expenses as the startup spent a whopping INR 10 Cr on it as against INR 49 Lakh in FY21.

It remains to be seen if the startup generated any operating revenue in FY23. When asked about the current financial health of the company, the spokesperson said, “As a policy, we will not be commenting on any numbers. In the last six months, we have acquired many customers and are witnessing a strong growth trajectory. Our finances are stable and we have a strong cash runway to launch the best products in the market in the coming months for our customers.”

According to its LinkedIn page, CARD91 increased hiring soon after its Pre-Series A fund raise and its total headcount reached a peak of 75 last year. However, the employee headcount has dropped by 28% since then to 54 currently. 

Srivastava’s exit came at a time when a number of startups have been witnessing top-level exits. In April, edtech soonicorn Teachmint’s cofounder Anshuman Kumar quit. Earlier, in the year, Zomato’s CTO Gunjan Patidar stepped down, whereas Swiggy CTO Dale Vaz ended his five-year stint with the foodtech giant on Wednesday (May 31). 

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