BharatPe Co-Founder Ashneer Grover To Take Voluntary Leave Till March-End The development comes amid an ongoing tussle between Grover and his wife, and Kotak Mahindra Bank

Ashneer Grover, co-founder and managing director of BharatPe, will take voluntary leave from the company till March end. "He has informed the board of his decision to take voluntary leave from the company till March end," said a company statement. The development comes amid an ongoing tussle between Grover and his wife, and Kotak Mahindra Bank

"Ashneer Grover co-built BharatPe from scratch. His decision is consistent with his passionate commitment to the future success of the company. For now, the decision has been accepted, which is in the best interests of the company," added the statement.

BharatPe will continue to be led by CEO Suhail Sameer and the management team.

Founded in 2018 by Grover and Shashvat Nakrani, the merchant payments startup boasts of launching India's first interoperable UPI QR code, to offer a single interface for all existing UPI apps, supporting Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay, BHIM, Mobikwik, Freecharge, TrueCaller and other apps through its service. Also, the startup is backed by marquee investors such as Tiger Global, Dragoneer Investment Group and Steadfast Capital, among others.

Furthermore, within three years of its launch, BharatPe entered the coveted Unicorn club in August 2021 after raising $370 million at a $2.85 billion valuation. The company became the fifth fintech startup in 2021 to achieve the Unicorn status and in the next four years, Grover envisions the company to at least grow 10 times on an overall company basis.