Peak XV Partners-backed AI startup Nintee shuts shop; to return capital to investors

Artificial intelligence-led software startup Nintee, backed by investors such as Peak XV Partners and Cred founder Kunal Shah, has shut shop, founder Paras Chopra said Tuesday.

“Our original hypothesis was to use AI for helping people build better habits to transform their lives. This attracted a passionate niche, but we couldn't build conviction that it could be a VC-scale business,” Chopra said, announcing the decision on X, LinkedIn and the website of Nintee.

Chopra said the company had tried a pivot to explore education- and learning-related ideas, but discovered that building a successful consumer app currently was hard, having to compete for attention against wider platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and Fortnite.


He said the funds raised by Nintee, most of which is still remaining, will be returned to the investors over the next few weeks.

Chopra is also the founder of Wingify, a New Delhi-based website-testing software provider that has been bootstrapped since inception.

All employees working at Nintee will be given four months of severance pay and an open offer letter to join Wingify, Chopra said. These employees will be offered the same salary without any gap in employment.

On its twelfth anniversary on May 27, 2022, Chopra said on X that Wingify had achieved an annual recurring revenue milestone of $30 million, was profitable and had more than 300 employees. In the same year, the workforce grew to 400 in India and six global locations.

The company has been bootstrapped, meaning it has never raised funds from external investors. It makes VWO, a testing tool that allows marketing professionals to create different versions of their websites.

Nintee, meanwhile, joins a growing list of startups that have tried their hand at building for the direct consumer in edtech, post-Covid. In September 2022, live tutoring and personalised online coaching startup Lido Learning filed for bankruptcy. In July 2023, FrontRow, a learning platform for non-academic skills, shuttered operations.