Digital payments company BharatPe, which onboards micro merchants for Unified Payments Interface-based transactions, has appointed Pratekk Agarwaal as its chief business officer to lead its push into lending.
The company, which first started with onboarding merchants for UPI payments through quick response (QR) codes, is now getting into lending and other financial services for merchants. Agarwaal will be responsible for driving this vertical.
Agarwaal has more than 18 years’ experience, having worked across financial services companies like Indostar Capital, Bajaj Capital and Fullerton India. He also cofounded Selfin in December 2016 to work on financial management, insurance and lending.
Ashneer Grover, chief executive officer, BharatPe said the company was looking to drive credit for more than 5 million merchants within the next one year and will be investing steadily in promoting this vertical and making top level hires.
BharatPe, which is backed by Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners and Beenext, has raised around $17.5 million since inception. The startup is in the process of raising around $100 million and is in talks with investors like Tiger Global and Ribbit Capital.
