Digital payments firm BharatPe appoints Chief Business Officer to push into lending
Digital payments firm 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 making a foray into lending and other financial services for merchants. Pratekk will be responsible for driving this vertical.
Pratekk has more than 18 years of 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.
Pratekk’s appointment comes as 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. The startup which is backed by Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and Beenext, has raised around $17.5 Mn since inception and is in talks to raise about $75-100 Mn from three new investors.