Exclusive: BharatPe founding member Satyam Nathani quits in third key exit in a week

In another major exit at merchant payments and lending fintech BharatPe, the company's founding member Satyam Nathani has resigned, according to sources.

Nathani's resignation comes just days after the exits of chief revenue officer Nishit Sharma and head of institutional debt partnerships Chandrima Dhar. ​

This comes at a time when the Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital-backed company is in the midst of an overhaul of its corporate governance systems and will claw back restricted shares of estranged cofounder Ashneer Grover.

Nathani was instrumental in building the company's tech products and the backbone of the tech team at BharatPe. A dropout from IIT Delhi, Nathani joined BharatPe straight out of college and led the building of the first prototype BharatPe's QR code besides other offerings like pay later product PostPe and peer-to-peer lending product 12% Club.

Sources added that he was also set to play an important role in Unity Small Finance Bank, formerly PMC Bank, which was acquired through a joint venture between BharatPe and Centrum Financial Services.

"He had informed the leadership team a while ago that he will be moving on. Nathani plans to start his own venture after leaving BharatPe," a second source added.

Moneycontrol reached out to BharatPe on the matter and the company's response is awaited.

The four-year-old company has been in the midst of controversy since the beginning of the year after allegations surfaced against founder Ashneer Grover for using inappropriate language and threatening a Kotak Group employee for failing to secure allotment and funding for the Nykaa IPO for him and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover.

Grover and Madhuri Jain Grover were then ousted from the company for allegations of misappropriation of funds.

The company had appointed Alvarez and Marsal, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and PwC to conduct a corporate governance review and to determine willful misconduct by Grover.

On May 10, BharatPe said that after the detailed review, the company had decided to take steps against employees involved in misconduct and claw back Ashneer Grover's restricted shares.

The company entered the unicorn club in August 2021 after raising $370 million led by Tiger Global. Former SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar was appointed chairman in October 2021.

Kumar too has been dragged into the controversies surrounding the company with Grover calling for his ouster along with CEO Suhail Sameer who has been leading the company since Grover's exit.