HDFC Bank-backed Lentra, on Monday announced the appointment of Haribandhu Patra as the chief financial officer (CFO) and Bhuvaneswar Naik as the chief human resource officer (CHRO) of the company.
The enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) company said that the appointments will help it to rapidly scale-up operations and launch innovative technology platforms for banks and financial institutions to democratise credit in India.
The new appointments also will help accelerate Lentra’s growth as it expands its footprint in India and across the world, the company said in a statement.
Patra comes with over two decades of experience in leading finance teams at several financial technology organisations. At the Pune-based startup, he will focus on enhancing shareholder value, the company said.
In his previous stint, Patra spent 10 years as CFO and chief operating officer (COO) of Fiserv India, where he focused on finance, taxation, legal and general administration. He has also been the CFO at BNY Mellon and Barclays Technology Centre, India.
“Delivering value to all our stakeholders, including associates, clients, and shareholders along with the company’s financial wellness and regulatory compliance will be the key focus area for me,” said Patra.
On the other hand, Naik has more than 25 years of experience in managing human resource functions at global technology organisations. In the past, he has held multiple senior and global leadership roles at SAP, Capgemini, and Yahoo. He will focus on human capital management at Lentra.
“Hari and Bhuvan are industry veterans who have scaled many global technology organisations. Their track records of consistent results and dynamic leadership will solidify our position,” said Shrihari Gokhale, COO, Lentra said.
Founded in 2019 by D Venkatesh and Ankur Handa, Lentra runs a lending cloud platform – Lentra Lending Cloud – that offers services to financial institutions operating in the lending ecosystem. The startup claims that the platform offers its services to more than 50 financial institutions and has processed over 13 billion transactions.
In 2019, the startup raised Rs 7 crore from HDFC Bank. Bessemer Venture Partners and SIG have also invested in the startup. In June 2022, the startup acquired artificial intelligence solutions company, TheDataTeam for an undisclosed amount to offer data-driven services to banks and financial institutions.