Fi
“Can an app-layer neobank in India survive when the underlying sponsor bank owns the customer relationship?”
Founded2019
HQBengaluru, India
FoundersSujith Narayanan, Sumit Gwalani
Total raised~$170M+
Latest roundSeries C, 2022 (~$100M at $700M valuation, reported)
Valuation$700M (2022, reported)
IndustryFintech / Neobank
The story
Fi launched in 2019 as a neobank aimed at Indian millennials, running savings accounts on top of Federal Bank as its sponsor/partner bank from 2021. After growing to 3.5M+ customers and 1B+ transactions, in March 2026 Fi wound down banking services on its own platform and redirected users to Federal Bank's app — effectively exiting the front-end neobank business. The pivot reflects the broader tightening of India's neobank model, where partner-bank–dependent front-ends have faced RBI scrutiny and unclear regulatory footing.
Product timeline
2019
Founded as epiFi by former Google Pay India executives Sujith Narayanan and Sumit Gwalani· founding
2020
Raised $13.2M seed led by Sequoia India and Ribbit Capital· funding
2021
Launched app-based banking in partnership with Federal Bank offering digital savings accounts· banking
2022
Reported ~$100M raise at $700M valuation led by Alpha Wave Global· funding
2026
Wound down banking services on the Fi platform; customers directed to Federal Bank's mobile app· pivot
The stack
2 layers disclosed in Fi’s embedded-finance stack
Banking / BaaS
Sponsor bank
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
1 more provider across 1 layer, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.