Fintech

BharatPe’s messy origins & Ashneer Grover’s growing troubles

Aditi Shrivastava

January 18, 2022 | 12 Min Read

There have been many warning signs at BharatPe, one of India’s hottest fintech startups. From a co-founder’s past conviction for mail fraud in the US to investor-turned-CEO Ashneer Grover’s brash attitude towards employees, investors and outside stakeholders. Is it too late to make amends?

BharatPe’s rise has been phenomenal. Within three years of launch, it has a $2.8-billion valuation and counts marquee investors from the US, such as Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management and Ribbit, as its main backers. Plus, former SBI chairperson Rajnish Kumar heads its board.

More crucially, the fintech startup is part owner of a small finance bank (SFB) venture, something its peers have been eyeing for years. BharatPe has just begun operations of this venture, Unity SFB, in partnership with Centrum, and together, they plan to revive scam-hit cooperative bank PMC.

But BharatPe has a troubled past of its own, the details of which have not been publicly known. It points to investor ignorance, potential governance problems and a poor work culture — big red flags for a company providing financial services.

The issues are linked to BharatPe co-founder Bhavik Koladiya’s former conviction in the US, and the questions arising now may cause further complications for managing director Ashneer Grover, who is facing multiple controversies.

Read this article for free

In addition, access 50+ archived articles and 3 new articles every month

Got a tip? If you have a lead we should be chasing at The CapTable, write to us at tips@the-captable.com

Join our community of 100,000+ top executives, VCs, entrepreneurs, and brightest student minds

Trusted by the best

Karthik Reddy

Blume Ventures

The CapTable brings a refreshing set of insights for us at the Blume team, highlighting stories that bring together the underlying business and founders with that of investors' journeys with these startups. It's an important perspective that very few bring to startup ecosystem enthusiasts.

Latest Articles

Code to cricket: OpenAI’s India push extends to the biggest consumer touchpoint

ChatGPT’s WPL sponsorship marks a shift in how AI firms build brand recall in India. By entering cricket’s cultural mainstream, OpenAI signals a move from niche, product-led marketing to mass visibility, positioning AI as daily consumer tech and underlining the rising brand power of women's cricket.

Sohini Mitter

Historically wealthiest old cities are its weakest online shoppers

From Kozhikode to Lucknow, India’s historically wealthy cities resist e-commerce. Their centuries-old bazaars, community credit networks, walkable markets and generational shopping habits make clicking 'buy now' seem unnecessary

Team Captable

The botanical extracts sector is getting its M&A moment

After decades in the shadows, India’s botanical extracts industry is beginning to attract serious capital, forcing a shift from small, family-owned trading houses to professionally run, acquisition-led platforms.

Anuj Suvarna

Lockers to demat: How gold ETFs are changing India’s ties with the yellow metal

In 2025, gold ETFs quietly turned the country’s most emotional asset into a financial one. As AUM crossed Rs 1 lakh crore, investors chose transparency over tradition, SIPs over bank lockers, and asset allocation over impulse, reshaping how India owns gold.

Sohini Mitter

Edtech rises again, but with scaled-back ambitions

India’s edtech crash was blamed on a broken idea, but the fault lay elsewhere. As Byju’s and Unacademy collapsed under excess, a quieter group of companies survived, rebuilt with restraint, and kept alive the promise money alone could never deliver.

Nikhil Patwardhan

Convinced that The Captable stories and insights
will give you the edge?

Convinced that The Captable stories
and insights will give you the edge?

Subscribe Now

Stories

Explore