MUMBAI: BharatPe has onboarded Sumeet Singh as the general counsel and head - corporate strategy. The appointment will further bolster the leadership team at BharatPe, which currently is a mix of renowned professionals across industries.

Singh is a seasoned legal professional with 10+ years of experience across leading law firms including AZB& Partners, DSK Legal and Amarchand Mangaldas. He brings deep understanding of legal, compliance, regulatory and structuring aspects of multiple sectors including non-banking financial, retail, e-commerce, FMCG, digital media and technology.

Singh, who is expected to join BharatPe soon, is currently a partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, New Delhi, having joined the erstwhile Amarchand Mangaldas Suresh A. Shroff in 2013 from AZB. He has actively represented some of India’s biggest e-commerce, retail entities, financial companies and start-ups. Recently, he was part of the core team advising Reliance Retail Ventures in its acquisition of the entire retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing business of Kishore Biyani's Future Group. He has also been advising Norwest Venture Partners (a US$ 9 billion investment fund) in all their recent investments in India including in Xpressbess, OFB Tech, Ess Kay Fin Corp, Veritas Finance etc. He has been an advisor to Grofers since its early days leading their fundraising work.

Additionally, Singh represented Indiamart on its pre-IPO fund raising. His other marquee representations include clients like Nestle, IFC, Inshorts, IDFC Alternatives Ltd (now Global Infrastructure Partners), Qatar based Q Invest, Raine Group and NewsCorp.

BharatPe co-founder and CEO Ashneer Grover said, “2020 has been an exciting and solid growth year for BharatPe. As we get ready to welcome 2021, I would like to welcome Sumeet to the team. Sumeet will be the first partner at a major law firm to join a start-up. I’ve known Sumeet professionally and personally for five years and there is no one better to steer BharatPe on its goal to be India’s first true digital bank. He will be responsible for corporate strategy, compliance, licensing, equity and debt deals, ESOP schemes, cap table management and preparation for eventual listing.”

Singh added, “I am excited to join Ashneer and his solid team of CXOs as they build out a truly differentiated and capital efficient fintech at BharatPe. The way BharatPe has broken away from the fintech crowd to create a solid business, bodes well for the future and I am honoured to contribute to this amazing growth.”