Muvin, a neobanking startup with a youth focus, has reportedly closed down, according to people with knowledge of the development and the company’s user communications. The RBI’s directive, which prohibited UPI in a co-branding agreement, is what caused the shutdown.
“Muvin card program has been closed. Any available balance is being migrated to issuer Livquik app. The migration is expected to be finished by 1st Feb and we would notify nextsteps to access your balance. Thank you for the support and we regret that muvin is unable to support your journey towards financial literacy,” said a notification sent by Muvin to its users.
Additionally, the Muvin app was not accessible on the Google Play Store.
The RBI ordered PPI issuers to discontinue UPI in a co-branding agreement in June 2023. Since they lacked a PPI license, the directive compelled DreamX (Dream11), Fampay, Akudo, Muvin, and CheqUPI to stop offering UPI services.
Akudo stopped running its wallet recently as well. In addition to Muvin, LivQuik issued PPIs on behalf of Akudo. The biggest participant in this market, Fampay, also changed from being a teen-only bank to a full-fledged neobank as a result of an RBI directive. In 2023, the company also had difficulty raising additional funding, experienced high-level departures, and let go of nearly 80 employees.
Muvin, a company that was co-founded by Vineet Gupta and Mukund Rao, served teens and young adults with its prepaid card and mobile app. Muvin raised $3 million in a seed round of more than $1 million in April 2021 and $3 million in a pre-Series A round led by WaterBridge Ventures in January 2022 before closing up shop.
