Payment firm Bharatpe Appoints Former IKEA Marketing Leader as its Marketing Head

Delhi-based BharatPe, a fintech startup serving the offline retailers and businesses through UPI payments, lending, and other financial services, has announced the appointment of Abhishek Shah as the Marketing Head. In his previous roles, Abhishek played an instrumental role in building IKEA’s India setup and it’s launch last year.

Speaking on the announcement, Ashneer Grover, Co-founder of BharatPe said, “We are delighted to welcome Abhishek to team BharatPe. As we continue to ease business for small merchants in India, he will provide the creative vision for our growth and together, we shall strive to create the largest network of small merchants in India."

“In the past few months, we have onboard over 8,00,000 merchants, and we are aiming to enable over 10 million merchants over the next two years. Abhishek's entrepreneurial mindset and a deep understanding of the industry will be instrumental in leading this growth. His first task would be the launch of high decibel campaign with Salman Khan,” Ashneer added.

[caption id="attachment_131031" align="alignleft" width="339"] Abhishek Shah, Chief Marketing Officer at Bharatpe[/caption]Abhishek Shah has an extensive experience in building and growing brands and comes with a deep knowledge of consumer insights and triggers. Previously, Abhishek has worked with category leader brands like IKEA, IPL franchises and Tata Group among others across business and marketing roles.

Commenting on his appointment, Abhishek Shah, Chief Marketing Officer at Bharatpe said, “Being in the industry, I have been observing the growth trajectory of BharatPe. Working towards transforming and strengthening India's digital payment ecosystem, and it is a privilege to receive an opportunity to work with the team here, to bridge the gap between digital disruption and consumer engagement to build BharatPe.

In April, BharatPe had raised $15.5 million in series A round of funding from Insight Partners and existing investors, Sequoia and Beenext.

So far, BharatPe has raised a total of $17.5 million in three rounds. The $15.5 million Series A funding raised by the company is the highest Series A funding in Indian startup Industry till now.

Founded in last year, by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani, BharatPe has established operations in 13 cities, serving over 8 Lakh merchants across Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bhopal, Nagpur, Chandigarh, Mysore, and Visakhapatnam. The company is on track to serve over 25 Lakh merchants on its network by the end of 2019.