Mumbai: Niyo Solutions Inc.’ chief strategy officer, Swapnil Bhaskar, is set to step down next week, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Bhaskar’s departure comes as the digital-only bank navigates a slowdown in revenue, delays in its plans for an initial public offering, and rising pressure to deliver profitability.
His departure is significant for Niyo also because the company has been exploring acquisitions to bolster its offerings. Bhaskar was in charge of mergers and acquisitions, fundraising, and other strategic operations at the neobank.
Last year, Bhaskar had outlined that Niyo was looking to raise funds to expand its travel banking business and for evaluating acquisitions in the foreign exchange and lending segments. Niyo’s founders will handle his responsibilities until they find a replacement, according to the people mentioned above.
“He will leave in mid-April and also step down from his position at Alphafront Finserv Pvt. Ltd, which is a subsidiary of Niyo,” one of the people cited above said.
The company has been searching for a replacement for Bhaskar the past few months, another person said. Bhaskar is set to join Tifin, a US-based fintech firm that develops wealthtech platforms and applications, as a partner, a third person added.
Bhaskar and Niyo co-founder Vinay Bagri did not respond to Mint’s requests for comment.
Last month, Mint reported about top-level exits at neobank Jupiter amid a broader restructuring. In January, Chandan Joshi, who was MobiKwik’s cofounder and the chief executive officer of its payments division, resigned.
Acquired by Niyo
Bhaskar joined Niyo in 2020 following its acquisition of Goalwise, the mutual fund investment platform he co-founded. The deal, for an undisclosed sum, was structured as a cash-and-stock transaction in which Niyo and its co-founders, Bagri and Virender Bisht, acquired a majority stake.
Goalwise is operated by Alphafront Finserv and was launched by Bhaskar, Ankur Choudhary, and Savitri Bobde with the aim of offering goal-based investment solutions to salaried millennials in India’s tier-1 cities, targeting users with an average annual income of around ₹10 lakh. The acquisition helped Niyo expand into wealth management at a time when demand for digital banking products was accelerating.
Under the deal terms, Goalwise’s customer base was migrated to Niyo Wealth, the neobank’s wealth management vertical, which Bhaskar and his co-founders continued to lead post-acquisition.
Delayed profitability, IPO
Founded in 2015, Bengaluru-based Niyo, which competes with Freo and Fi, operates two primary verticals: global banking and mass banking, in partnership with DCB Bank, Equitas Small Finance Bank, and State Bank of Mauritius.
In 2023, the company raised a strategic investment from Spring Marketing Capital, following a $130 million Series C round in 2022 led by Accel, Lightrock, and Multiples. Its investor roster also includes Prime Venture Partners, Horizons Ventures, Tencent, JS Capital, Social Capital, and Beams Fintech Fund.
While Bhaskar told Mint last year that Niyo was on track to turn profitable and target a public listing in 2025, those plans are yet to materialize. The delays mirror a broader trend across Indian startups, many of which have postponed IPO timelines amid macroeconomic uncertainty and volatile equity markets.
In FY24, Niyo’s operating revenue declined to ₹93.84 crore, down from ₹131.44 crore in the previous fiscal, according to an Inc42 report. However, the company narrowed its net loss to ₹143.47 crore from ₹177.03 crore a year earlier.
