Inside ZestMoney’s ambitious mission to save itself

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Editor's note: It has been a tough few weeks for ZestMoney. The cash-strapped fintech startup had signed a term sheet with Walmart-backed PhonePe last year to be acquired in a deal reportedly worth $90 million, but the talks collapsed last month because of issues flagged by Walmart in its due diligence process. ZestMoney, led by founders Lizzie Chapman, Priya Sharma and Ashish Anantharaman, is now preparing an ambitious rescue plan, one that is unheard of in India’s burgeoning fintech industry. According to three executives aware of the matter, who asked not to be named, the plan to revive the eight-year-old company involves three steps.  The first step is to secure capital in the short term. Here, the company that drove ZestMoney into a corner has come to its rescue. According to the three executives cited above, PhonePe has agreed to waive the repayment obligation on the $18 million loan it had extended to ZestMoney in December last year, as first reported by The Economic Times on Wednesday. We have written about the loan and Walmart’s initial concerns over the deal.    There is …