Who Founded BharatPe?

Shashvat Nakrani co-founded BharatPe with Bhavik Koladiya, starting work in July 2017 and incorporating the company in March 2018. He worked on the interoperable QR code and merchant products, later served as COO, and stepped back from day-to-day operations on 1 May 2026 to become a strategic adviser while remaining a board director. He is the company's largest individual shareholder and appeared on the Hurun India Rich List in his early twenties. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).

Ashneer Grover joined Nakrani and Koladiya as co-founder in 2018 and led BharatPe's fundraising and expansion, taking it to a $2.85 billion valuation in 2021. He became widely known as a judge on Shark Tank India. He left BharatPe in early 2022 after an internal review of alleged financial irregularities, which he contested in court. A settlement on 30 September 2024 ended all cases; he holds no role in the company, part of his shares went to the Resilient Growth Trust and the rest are managed by his family trust. Ashneer Grover was born in 1982.

Bhavik Koladiya co-founded BharatPe with Shashvat Nakrani and built its early product. Because of a past credit card fraud conviction in the US, he became a consultant when institutional investors came in and his shares were split between the other co-founders, the Economic Times reported. He ended his association with BharatPe in August 2022 and became CEO of OTPless, a passwordless login startup, in January 2023. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).