Amit Jain – who recently quit as a managing director at Sequoia Capital India – has raised about $25 million for his new venture, named Zamp.
The round, led by Sequoia Capital and a clutch of high-profile individual investors, values Jain’s startup at almost $160 million, a person aware of the matter said.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure, Polygon founder Sandeep Naliwal, Coinbase board member Gokul Rajaram, former Facebook executive Kirthiga Reddy, Juspay and Hyperface founder Ramanathan RV, and Reckitt Benckiser CEO Laxman Narasimhan have also invested in this round.
Jain did not respond to a request for comment.
Jain’s startup, which is currently in stealth mode, is building “banking and payments for the crypto economy,” according to the company’s LinkedIn page. “Zamp is building at the intersection of global banking - helping businesses innovate and be at the forefront of consumer demand for digital goods, in a regulatory and compliant way across borders,” the company’s website reads.
In one of its hiring posts, the company said that Zamp is building at the intersection of Web2 and Web3/Crypto. “Our mission is to provide a seamless and borderless experience across banking, payment and credit services, leveraging the best of crypto and banking rails. To execute on the mission, we are systematically investing in product innovation across a multitude of banking services – cards/non-cards payments, credit, crypto payments, custody, integrations.”
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and Standford University, Jain before starting up was a managing director at Sequoia Capital, where he led several fintech investments. Prior to that, he was head of Uber-Asia Pacific.
In February this year, Jain – in a series of tweets on microblogging site Twitter – announced that he is stepping down from his position as MD to pursue entrepreneurship.
In its statement on Twitter, Sequoia wrote, “Amit is launching a startup with massive potential in an exciting category. He will stay on with us for some time as an Entrepreneur in Residence as he lays out the blueprint for his ambitious new idea. We will miss him, but couldn’t be more excited for what lies ahead.”
