Top management continues to leave BharatPe
- ByStartupStory | November 29, 2022
BharatPe has lost three key executives, according to two people with knowledge of the situation who spoke to Mint. Rajat Jain, chief product officer for lending and consumer products, Nehul Malhotra, president of PostPe, and Vijay Aggarwal, chief technology officer, have all tendered their resignations.
According to the individuals cited above, Aggarwal, who joined BharatPe in March 2020, left “to launch his own venture.” Jain and Malhotra, two former Paytm executives, are “also moving out to pursue their own entrepreneurial journey,” the people continued. At the mid-managerial level, there have also been two to three exits, including those of Geetanshu Singla, VP-technology, and Manas Poddar, a programme manager at BharatPe.
“We can confirm that Geetanshu, Vijay, Rajat, and Nehul are leaving BharatPe to pursue their entrepreneurial passions. They will continue to make sure that the designated leaders take over their position smoothly. Although it will be hard to say goodbye to these amazing leaders, we are also proud of them for making the leap into entrepreneurship. We wish them the best of luck and will support them in their future endeavours. A BharatPe spokesperson responded to a question about this by saying, “BharatPe has an incredible leadership bench and has continued to strengthen and build it over the last 12 months with key senior hires in the product, technology, data science, finance, and HR.
Since the start of 2022, BharatPe has been dogged by scandals and saw a number of high-level departures. Ashneer Grover was the first to be fired due to claims of financial irregularities. Nishit Sharma, the business’s chief revenue officer, quit in June. One of the key members of the tech team and a founder member of BharatPe, Satyam Nathani, left the company that same month in order to pursue his entrepreneurial goals.
The biggest setback was Bhavik Koladiya’s departure. He oversaw the fintech company’s technology and product before leaving the organisation in the final week of June. Koladiya, who has just completed high school, has been in charge of BharatPe’s technology from the beginning. He oversaw a team of 60 product and tech specialists. A deal was made whereby Koladiya would have provided technical assistance to the Unity Small Finance Bank, a joint venture between Centrum and BharatPe, in addition to managing BharatPe’s technology.
Most of the departures from BharatPe’s tech and product team over the past several months have affected the company’s venture with Unity Bank, which depends on BharatPe for its technological skills. In fact, Unity SFB, for which BharatPe is anticipated to contribute as a technology service provider, was expected to include Koladiya, Nathani, and Vijay Aggarwal in a significant capacity. These exits occur as the fintech business transforms into a professionally managed organisation. BharatPe, which is now working to become profitable, is also getting ready for an IPO that will happen in 18 to 24 months.
Koladiya and Shashvat Nakrani, who was then enrolled in IIT-Delhi, co-founded BharatPe in July 2017 and had it incorporated in March 2018 with each owning a 50% stake. Grover joined as the third co-founder in June 2018, which was three months later. After raising $370 million under the direction of Tiger Global in August 2021, the company joined the unicorn club. Rajnish Kumar, a former SBI chairman, was named chairman of BharatPe in October 2021.
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