“I just had a great gut feeling about them!”
“When we first interacted with BharatPe, UPI wasn’t a new concept in India. However, their innovative way of thinking, the timing and product potential were altogether too good an opportunity for us to pass. We ended up investing just after two meetings (one was actually a call) – that is how convincing the BharatPe team was.”
27 August, 2020
Our journey with BharatPe like most of our other partnerships came through our network when one of our portfolio founders introduced us through email back in 2018. On my first hour-long call with Ashneer, CEO and Co-Founder, he presented his idea of how and why he wants to build a new payment platform for Indian SMEs. Ashneer’s enthusiasm and firm conviction towards his business model of creating a one-stop business utility solution for all offline merchants in India was reason enough to proceed further.
During our first meeting, Ashneer’s passion, sound industry knowledge and his well-designed strategy, as well as start-up background, reinforced our decision to collaborate with them. Another and perhaps one of the biggest indicators of why we felt this partnership was a must, was the clarity of his vision for BharatPe. We love working and co-creating with founders who have a clear vision for their offering.
Two years down the line, today BharatPe is one of the largest digital financial service providers for SMEs across India. They continue to empower SMEs by helping them digitize offline payments and daily financial operation and thereby removing friction as well as delays. It is heartening to see so many merchants coming forward and testifying about how BharatPe has transformed their lives; proving the immense success and impact of the company in the market.
BharatPe, today, is skyrocketing in the fiercely competitive UPI related business. For us at BEENEXT, one of the key things we look for before investing is the ‘founder’s ability’. Ashneer has time and again proved his ability to truly make sense of business and scale. He and his team are true entrepreneurs.