SUMMARY
In a post on X, cofounder and CEO Paras Chopra cited issues related to user retention and scale for shutting down the startup
While Nintee has fired its entire workforce, Chopra said all impacted employees are being given a severance pay of four months and an offer to join his other company, VWO
With this, Nintee has joined the likes of GoldPe and Muvin in the list of startups which have ceased operations this year
AI-powered digital health platform Nintee is shutting operations and will return the remaining capital to investors in the coming weeks.
In a post on X, Nintee cofounder and CEO Paras Chopra cited issues related to user retention and scale for shutting down the Peak XV Partners-backed startup. The shut down comes barely a year after the startup raised $3 Mn from undisclosed investors in April 2023.
While Nintee has fired its entire workforce, Chopra said all impacted employees are being paid a severance pay of four months. In addition, the laid off employees have also been extended an “open offer” to join Chopra’s other company VWO, a B2B SaaS platform, at the same salary.
“Our original hypothesis was to use Al for helping people build better habits to transform their lives. This attracted a passionate niche, but we couldn’t build conviction that it could be a VC-scale business,” said Chopra.
He said that attempts to pivot to an education and learning-led model also failed to revive the platform’s flailing user numbers. Elaborating on this, Chopra said that building a successful consumer app “today” is very hard as new entrants have to “battle for attention” with well-entrenched incumbents such as YouTube, Instagram, and Fortnite.
“A good decision is the one that you’d take again and again, irrespective of the actual outcome. In that sense, attempting Nintee was a fantastic decision, as it turned out to be a crash course on human behavior and psychology,” he added in the post.
Speaking about his next course of action, Chopra said, “As for me, there’s no dearth of ideas. I love building things, and would continue to do so”.
Founded by Chopra in 2022, Nintee offered an AI-powered tool for personal growth. The platform is backed by WeFounder Circle, Neon Fund, CRED founder Kunal Shah and a clutch of other angel investors.
With this, Nintee has become the latest Indian startup to shut operations amid a raging funding winter and tough macroeconomic conditions. The economic downturn forced investors to re-evaluate their investment strategies, which led to them tightening their purse strings
As focus suddenly turned to profitability and sustainable growth, many startups failed to raise follow-on rounds and shut shop. As per Inc42 data, as many as 15 startups wrapped up their operations last year and the trend has somewhat continued well into 2024 too, although for different reasons.
Last month, fintech startup GoldPe ceased its operations citing the absence of a sustainable revenue stream, a flawed business model, and cash flow issues. In February, youth-focused neobanking startup Muvin also reportedly shut its operations after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2023 forbade UPI in a co-branding arrangement.
