technology

BharatPe CTO Pankaj Goel resigns citing personal reasons


Pankaj Goel, who joined BharatPe as chief technology officer (CTO) in July 2023, has resigned from the company, citing personal reasons, according to sources familiar with the development.

Goel is currently serving his notice period. Entrackr was the first to report the news on Wednesday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, sources told ET that BharatPe has not yet initiated the search for Goel’s replacement.

At BharatPe, Goel led the technology team and drove the group’s innovation strategy. His appointment followed a seven-month vacancy after the departure of former CTO Vijay Aggarwal in November 2022.

Before joining BharatPe, Goel served as senior vice president and head of payments engineering at payment aggregator Razorpay, where he superheaded execution and strategy for the company’s core payments infrastructure.


Broader leadership churn

Discover the stories of your interest


Goel’s exit comes in the wake of several senior leadership departures at BharatPe. Alongside Aggarwal, other executives who left in late 2022 included Nehul Malhotra (head of buy-now-pay-later), Rajat Jain (chief product officer for lending and consumer products), and Geetanshu Singla (vice president, technology).Goel reported to Nalin Negi, chief financial officer and interim CEO of BharatPe who took over Suhail Sameer in 2023.

With a career spanning over 31 years, Goel has held leadership roles at companies including Intuit—where he spent a decade as a product development leader—as well as Trilogy, Schlumberger, Videocon Telecommunications, Sun Microsystems, NetGuru, and Netscape Communications.

His experience spans the consumer, small business, and enterprise sectors. He has led development across web, mobile, and desktop platforms, overseeing product strategy, engineering execution, data management, and user experience.

Read More   Saudi Arabia reportedly in talks with VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz to create mammoth $40 billion AI fund

IPO plans

Goel’s resignation comes at a time when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted final authorisation to Resilient Payments, a BharatPe group company, to operate as an online payment aggregator.

Founded in 2018, BharatPe now operates in over 450 cities with a merchant network of more than 1.3 crore. It processes over 450 million UPI transactions monthly, with an annualised transaction value exceeding Rs 1.7 lakh crore, ET reported in April.

The company is also exploring the launch of mutual funds and insurance products as its next major offerings, Negi said earlier.

He estimated an additional 18 to 24 months for the company to streamline its processes and stabilise operations, with plans of public listing on the roadmap.

Since its inception, BharatPe has raised over $600 million in equity funding. It was last valued at $2.7 billion in 2021. Key investors include Peak XV Partners, Coatue, and Ribbit Capital.



READ SOURCE

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.