Mukul Sachan, the chief operating officer of digital lending startup Lendingkart, has stepped down from his role, as per an ET report.

Sachan, who co-founded the company with Harshvardhan Lunia in April 2014, has reached out to prospective investors to start a new venture, as per the report. He has been on a sabbatical for the past six months and is keen to pursue interests outside Lendingkart.

Lendingkart CEO Harshvardhan Lunia stated, “After spending close to six years in the company and being a pillar of strength for all of us, Mukul has decided to step down from his role as COO. Since he owned around 3% stake in the company, which would have gotten further diluted in the subsequent rounds, Mukul decided to hand over his responsibilities and pursue his other passions further.”

With less than 2.5% stake in the firm after its latest funding round, he could move to a mentoring role and remain associated with Lendingkart as a founding shareholder.

An IIT Varanasi and IIM Bangalore alumnus, Sachan worked in the Indian Space Research Organization as a scientist before working for Edelweiss and Futures First, among other companies.

The development comes almost a month after the fintech startup, raised another fresh equity round of Rs 21 Cr from existing investor Sistema Asia Fund (SAF) as a part of its ongoing Series D fundraise. The funds will be used to expand the lending base, build technology and strengthen analytics capabilities. Since its inception, Lendingkart Finance, the NBFC arm of Lendingkart Group, has evaluated nearly half a million applications, disbursing 60,000 plus loans to more than 55,000 MSMEs in 1,300 cities across India.

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