Employees of the AI-powered beauty-tech platform Kult have alleged that the management has not released their salaries since December. On Sunday, some employees apparently went rogue and posted a series of Instagram Stories on the brand’s official Instagram page, requesting the company to release their salaries.
Kult employees beg for salary
In the Instagram Stories, the employees pleaded with M3M management, including Pankaj and Aishwarya Bansal, to release their unpaid salaries.
“This is a cry of help to Pankaj Bansal, Aishwarya Bansal and the management of M3M. Please pay our salaries: we are employees of Kult. Since December, our salaries have not been paid by Kult E-Comm,” read one Instagram Story.
“While CEO Karishma remains mum, Rahul Yadav urges us to put pressure on M3M who have total control of finances,” another alleged.
HT.com has reached out to Karishma Singh, Aishwarya Bansal, and M3M for a comment. This story will be updated on receiving a response.
“We are suffering,” say employees
The Instagram Stories posted on the official @sokultsokool page were deleted after a short while, but screenshots have been circulating on Reddit.
In the Stories, Kult employees said that nonpayment of dues had put financial strain on their lives. They highlighted urgent financial distress affecting medical bills, school fees, and daily expenses.
“M3M, Rahul Yadav has done this before. You don’t want blood on your hands. Please help before there is loss of life or limb. Pay our salaries,” employees said in one Insta Story.
Another said, “As full control of payment is with M3M, as per Rahul, we request you to release salaries as we are suffering to pay medical bills, school fees and basic day-to-day expenses.”
Kult and its M3M connection
Founded by Karishma Singh and Ruchika Pallavi, Kult offers personalized skincare recommendations using AI. The startup secured $20 million in Series A funding in April 2025, led by M3M Family Office.
Its Series A funding round was led by Dr Payal Kanodia and Aishwarya Bansal from the M3M Family Office, with participation from Venture Catalysts, as per an Entrackr report.
According to an Inc42 report from May 2025 that had raised concerns about financial mismanagement at Kult, Rahul Yadav is married to Kult CEO Karishma Singh. Yadav, former Housing.com founder, is alleged to have influenced the company and used it to funnel loans to his own entities, particularly RY Advisory LLP, which received over ₹15 crore in interest-free loans from Kult in FY24, according to the report.
Employees take to LinkedIn
Some employees took to LinkedIn to call out Kult. Among them was Adyasha Roy Tomar, a Delhi-based employee who is part of Kult’s communications team.
In a LinkedIn post shared this afternoon, Tomar said that some Kult employees have not been paid for four months while others, favoured by the CEO, have received their salaries.
“But largely, employees (of whom some, after 4 months of no pay, have tried to unalive themselves, are no longer able to afford their paralysed mothers’ medical expenses, their children’s’ school fees, rent – many have had to vacate) have been NOT PAID 4 months of salary,” she claimed.
