When investors take over the helm, does a startup lose its ‘X’ factor?

WHEN fintech startup Spenmo announced that its founder Mohandass Kalaichelvan would step down and take an advisory role in June, one detail stood out in the press statement: It was one of Spenmo’s investors, Insight Partners, that was listed as the party to contact for information, not any of the startup’s leadership team.

Kalaichelvan was to be replaced as chief executive officer by Justin Choi, a private equity and venture capital veteran, previously from the venture arm of crypto exchange Coinbase.

This came after risk and compliance lapses at the fintech, where weak controls were blamed for increased spending and unnecessary fund transfers. Spenmo also laid off employees in three rounds last year, and talk of a potential down round emerged in November 2022.