Pillow, a crypto startup platform plans to discontinue all its services and app in the coming weeks, a year after expanding its services to Nigeria and Ghana , it warned customers Friday, citing regulatory uncertainty that has claimed countless other crypto startups in recent quarters.
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Pillow allowed customers to invest in Bitcoin, stablecoins and altcoins, and promised returns of up to 18% — a figure that dropped to 14% as the market started to cool. It had raised about $21 million altogether and counted Accel India, Quona Capital, Elevation Capital and Jump Crypto among its backers. Pillow revealed its $18 million Series A funding in October last year.
In a post on Telegram, the two-year-old startup asked customers on Friday to withdraw all their funds from the Pillow app and said it will be terminating all its current services on July 31, 2023.
The move follows Pillow’s chief rival Flint shutting down its services last month due to what it termed as “regulatory hurdles” and “negative market sentiment.”
Both the startups, founded and operated in India, counted the South Asian nation among their largest markets. The Reserve Bank of India, the nation’s central bank, has been pushing lenders to stop engaging with crypto startups for over a year, making it virtually impossible for web3 startups to operate in the country.
Also Read: Paxful Crypto P2P Market Place To Shut Down.
The company’s founders, Arindam Roy, Rajath KM, and Kartik Mishra, have not publicly announced the news, but the closure marks the end of Pillow’s mission to provide a means for individuals in emerging markets to combat inflation. The startup had raised approximately $21 million from 15 investors to support this goal.
Pillow’s decision is arguably a surprising turn of even as a few months ago, the startup was advertising job vacancies. However, this highlights the pressure faced by crypto startups in navigating regulatory environments, across the world.
