Athira Sethu
Kochi, 6 October 2024
Ashneer Grover is a finance professional-turned-prominent entrepreneur with an interesting tale of ambition, innovation, and resilience. He co-founded BharatPe, the pioneering fintech app that changed the way payments were made among small businesses in India. But his career has been riddled with many milestones and controversies.
One landmark in Ashneer Grover’s career has been to co-found BharatPe in 2018. This innovative payment app became an all-in-one transaction enabler for small businesses and immediately became a leader in the fintech business in India. BharatPe introduced the QR code-based payment system for smooth transactions that can be accepted digitally by retailers. Under the leadership of Ashneer as managing director, the company expanded its services into merchant loans and card acceptance, thus helping it gain some much-needed traction in an otherwise competitive market and making digital payments accessible to millions.
Prior to BharatPe, Ashneer had an excellent finance background. He started his career with Kotak Investment Bank and served there as Vice President. Ashneer has been part of several high-profile IPOs that allowed him to deeply understand the financial markets for nearly seven years. He moved on to become a Director at American Express (Amex), where he also attained knowledge of global financial services and strategic management, which helped him in his entrepreneurial journey.
In 2017, Ashneer became the Chief Financial Officer at Grofers, a grocery delivery service. Under his financial leadership, he helped Grofers to grow rapidly by focusing on making the operations leaner and thereby improving in performance. This experience under a dynamic startup environment equipped him to handle the nuances of running a business with a technology platform. After his sojourn at Grofers, he also briefly worked at PC Jeweller. There, within a very short period, he chalked out business strategies, which were sustainable and focused on growth, marking his versatility and adaptability in different sectors.
However, things really became dramatic in the first few months of 2022 when the board of BharatPe raised serious concerns of financial fraud. Those initial findings prompted Ashneer to go on leave for an internal audit. Ashneer resigned on February 28, 2022 due to allegations made against him, emerging from the scrutiny. Recently, BhratPe and Ashneer settled their disputes with Ashneer offloading his stake.
Post-exit controversies had been following Ashneer. He did not remain out of the media limelight even after his exit from the show Shark Tank India. However, these controversies didn’t deter Ashneer from starting another company, Third Unicorn in July 2022. This is a software services firm that has no investors on the board. Ashneer has also invested in numerous sectors such as fintech and digital media, thus showcasing his keen sense of business acumen.
As Ashneer enters another phase of his entrepreneurial journey, his story depicts an exciting saga of ambition and challenge in an evolving business landscape.
