Did Bhavik Koladiya, OTPLess Steal Data Of 150 Mn Users From BharatPe?

In the latest set of allegations by Ashneer Grover against BharatPe cofounder Bhavik Koladiya, the former MD and cofounder of the fintech startup has alleged that Koladiya stole user data from the company.

In an email sent to the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), Ashneer alleged that Koladiya stole privileged information from BharatPe while building his new venture OTPLess, taking with him user data of 150 Mn UPI users registered with Bharatpe.

Inc42 has seen the screenshots of the email sent to NPCI CEO Dilip Asbe and BharatPe’s independent director Kaushik Dutta, along with WhatsApp’s Sreene Ranganathan.

According to Grover, after having founded OTPLess, Koladiya transferred all the privileged and confidential data from BharatPe to his new venture.

OTPLess is a fintech SaaS platform that enables businesses to help their customers log into their services with their WhatsApp accounts. It counts BharatPe and its subsidiary PostPe, BullSpree, Probo and LaundroKart among its customers.

Grover also noted that Bhavik Koladiya hired two senior executives from BharatPe – Tanmay Sagar and Satyam Nathani – who are now cofounders at OTPLess. Both Sagar and Nathani were founding members of the fintech unicorn.

It is important to note that Koladiya left BharatPe in July 2022. Bhavik only took charge of OTPLess as its CEO in January 2023. Koladiya held various positions at BharatPe before, starting by being the company’s founder. 

However, after Sequoia India bought a stake in the fintech unicorn, Koladiya had to step away from being the cofounder due to his 2015 conviction in the US for credit card fraud.

However, Sagar was the one who founded OTPLess in May 2021, with Koladiya and Nathani joining as cofounders shortly after their exits in mid-2022. Further, former BharatPe head of compliance Sagar Satija also joined OTPLess as finance head.

Grover alleged that Koladiya also poached 10 engineers from the transaction processing team “in complete disregard of his non-solicit contract with BharatPe and in complete knowledge of the current management”. Inc42 could not independently verify the ex-BharatPe MD’s claim.

Ashneer also alleged that Koladiya still has access to BharatPe systems and live data still flows from BharatPe to OTPLess.

Grover requested the NPCI to conduct a forensic audit of the two companies. He also asked Dutta to investigate the complicity of the current management of BharatPe and audit if they hold any shares in OTPLess. 

He also requested Dutta to audit “whether BharatPe management has been pursuing frivolous cases and complaints against former MD & Founder – Ashneer Grover as a smoke screen to cover this more serious crime committed”.

Responding to Grover’s allegations, Bhavik Koladiya told Inc42, “I strongly deny the baseless and false allegations made against me by Ashneer Grover. The allegations are nothing but an act of retaliation and frustration on his part, resulting from his removal from BharatPe and my ongoing legal suit against him in Delhi High Court.” 

“I take the privacy and security of our users very seriously and I do not take these allegations lightly. However, in this particular case, there is no cause for concern as the claims made by Mr Grover are completely without merit,” added Koladiya.

With the legal suit, Koladiya was referring to the share dispute case that he has filed against Grover. The case is currently ongoing in the Delhi High Court and the next hearing in the matter is on March 16.

BharatPe, in response to Grover’s allegations, told Inc42, “This allegation is malicious and completely baseless. BharatPe fiercely protects the data of its customers and observes high-security standards. OTPless is our service provider that only enables verification via WhatsApp and is used by less than 10 per cent of our merchant base.”

“We are fully compliant on all our data privacy obligations with our customers and partners,” the fintech major added.

[With inputs from Bismah Malik]

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