Outgoing BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer will launch a new early-stage venture capital (VC) fund to invest in consumer tech and fintech startups along with two former co-founders.

In an interaction with FE on Tuesday, Sameer said the early-stage fund would be domiciled in India but will have Indian as well as global investors. Though he did not share the corpus size, Sameer added that the general partners are existing startup investors.

“I’m launching the fund along with two of my friends who are also ex-founders and prolific investors…We are going to put a large part of the capital ourselves (unlike traditional funds). We have enough interest, but we haven’t finalised anything on the fund construct and LPs,” Sameer added.

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Sameer on Tuesday quit his role as the CEO of BharatPe and is transitioning into an adviser for the fintech unicorn. BharatPe said in a statement that he is stepping down from his role effective January 7, while the company’s current CFO Nalin Negi will be appointed as the interim CEO. The board of directors has retained a leading executive search firm to assist with succession planning and the critical CEO search, BharatPe added in its statement.

“We have recognised the need to dedicate time and resources to finding the leader who will continue to catapult BharatPe to new heights, and we are grateful for the commitment from Suhail and Nalin. We look forward to supporting Nalin Negi in his role as the interim CEO, as we move ahead in our mission of empowering millions of MSMEs,” Rajnish Kumar, chairman, BharatPe, said.

“Helping build BharatPe during this time of transition has been an honour and I know the company will continue to build for success. I remain committed to supporting BharatPe achieve its growth potential in the role of strategic adviser and look forward to the next phase of my own journey as a full-time investor,” said Sameer.

Also Read: Fintech platform BharatPe hits $20 billion in annualised TPV

Prior to joining BharatPe in August 2020, Sameer had several years of experience functioning as an investor and adviser in various VC funds, including RPSG Capital Ventures, Fireside Ventures, and RPSG Group-owned CESC Ventures, among others. He started his career at McKinsey & Company where he worked for eight years as associate partner after graduating from IIM Lucknow.

BharatPe saw the abrupt exit of its earlier CEO and co-founder Ashneer Grover after allegations of misappropriation of funds. Post Grover’s exit, the company has been trying to mend its public image with a focus on lending growth and a potential IPO. The fintech unicorn also moved the court last month seeking damages of `88 crore from Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain and other family members, in a fresh civil suit.

Despite the board tussle with its ex-founder, BharatPe recently announced that it has reached an all-time high of $20 billion in annualised total payments value (TPV). Further, the IPO-bound company said it aims to achieve a TPV of $30 billion by March 2023, also the time it has given itself to turn profitable on the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) level.

BharatPe was founded in 2018 by Grover, Bhavik Koladiya and Shashvat Nakrani as an app that provided interoperable QR code payments using UPI. Koladiya, who was working with the company as a consultant overseeing its technology and product functions, also resigned in August 2022.

BharatPe reported a 20-fold rise in revenue for FY21 which stood at Rs 119 crore, up from Rs 6 crore in comparison to FY20, according to the company’s regulatory filings. Its losses increased to Rs 1,619 crore in FY21 from Rs 912 crore a year ago on account of higher expenses. Total expenses in FY21 stood at Rs 1,804 crore for FY21, compared with Rs 934 crore in FY20. BharatPe has seen several top-level exits in the past year, such as that of Chandrima Dhar, head of institutional debt partnerships, in May 2022. In June 2022, Satyam Nathani – founding member at the company – quit “to pursue entrepreneurial goals”. Chief revenue officer Nishit Sharma also left in the same month.