UK challenger banking app Dozens is to wind up its consumer operations, citing the domino effect of covid and funding constraints.
Launched in 2019, Dozens offered users a slew of budgeting and analytics tools to help them save and invest more efficiently.
The firm claims to have some 60,000 customers using its app, and has raised £28 million from Hong Kong-based backers, as well as a £3.5 million crowdfunding round on Seedrs.
The company informed customers of the decision to shut up shop in June, giving them two months to transfer their cash to an altenative provider.
In a statement, the firm says: "Covid hit when we were still a very early stage company. Overnight we lost both investment and B2B deals worth millions of pounds. Our focus immediately switched to survival mode - simply looking after our employees and customers for as long as we could to provide some form of stability at a time when everything was so uncertain."
The company struggled on through 2020 and 2021, migrating many of its services over to a brand new tech stack and new partners like ClearBank, Marqeta and Visa.
"However, we are now half way through 2022 and the world has changed significantly from the one we launched into in 2019 and the business needs to adapt accordingly.
"The domino effect of Covid means there is less money in the system. Covid has led to supply chain disruption across the world and in the UK this has been compounded further by Brexit. As people and businesses across all sectors of society are adjusting how they use their money and where it sits, less and less money is being placed in illiquid investments like VC funds.
"Within the fintech sector specifically, less money is going into the consumer side of fintech. It’s a great time to be a bank. But while we’re still in the developmental stages of the business and running on an e-money licence, a model which doesn’t rely on lending has less chance of survival."
The fintech says it will refocus its efforts on building a B2B-based business, stating: "While it’s goodbye to Dozens for now, the foundations we’ve laid over the past 3.5 years have put us in a stronger position than we’ve ever been in. And we remain confident that one day, if the revenue is in place and the time is right, we could come back in the future - substantially, and in full measure."