Former BharatPe managing director Ashneer Grover’s love for the word 'dhanda' instead of English word ‘Business’ has not only found admirers in India, but across the borders too. Two young and passionate entrepreneurs from Pakistan, smitten by Grover’s social media and television persona, decided to pitch their startup idea through a cold message on WhatsApp in July 2023.

Nine months later, they are shocked to see Grover launching a venture eerily similar to their concept under his new company, ‘Zerope’.

Currently operating a startup called ‘Hsieh’, Hassan Askari (a 22-year-old Computer Science graduate) and Kumail Bukhari (an 18-year-old school dropout, also a big fan of Indian entrepreneurs such as Ashneer Grover, Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal, and Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath), claim to have reached out to Grover with their health-fintech idea ‘Asaniyan’ with an hope to get him on board as an advisor.

“I got his (Ashneer Grover) number from a fellow entrepreneur friend. I thought like may be Ashneer can come onboard as an advisor. I know the relation between India and Pakistan is not that great, but I was too hopeful and tried my luck to get him as an advisor to our firm…who knows something may click…just never say never. Ashneer has done a fintech company earlier. I was really impressed by the fact that he was a straightforward Hindi speaking entrepreneur. When Shark Tank India Season 1 came, we all thought Ashneer is a go-to man,” Bukhari says.

“So, I sent him a cold message sharing my idea and business model, thinking that he might just get interested reading this,” he adds. “He read my message as there is a blue tick. He never replied. Now, I see him launching ‘Zerope’, which is very similar to our idea.”

The WhatsApp message, sent on July 27, 2023, reads:

‘Dear Ashneer,

I am writing to you today to introduce you to Asaniyan, a company that partners with banks to provide interest-free loans to employees of partner organizations. Asaniyan makes money by negotiating discounts with hospitals, which can be as high as 15-20%. Asaniyan then charges the partner organizations’ employees the original price, and collects the full amount from the employees over a period of one year. Asaniyan shares the discounted money with the partner bank, on a fifty-fifty basis. I believe that Asaniyan has the potential to be a very successful business. The India healthcare market is large and growing, and there is a significant demand for interest-free loans among employees. Asaniya’s unique business model allows us to provide these loans at a very competitive price, while still generating a profit. I am confident that you would be a valuable advisor to Asaniyan. Your experience in the fintech industry would be invaluable, and your insights would help us to grow the business. I would be grateful for the opportunity to discuss Asaniyan with you in more detail. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely [Your Name]

I hope this is concise enough. Please let know if you have any other questions.

A follow-up message:

‘So, this is the business plan we are currently looking to partner up with banks and we are just starting this company.’

[Bukhari admits that he forgot to write his name in the end.]

Just to be sure, Zerope doesn’t claim to partner with organizations and looks more like direct-to-consumer app. In addition, the business model of Zerope is not known yet in detail, but it is believed that the name itself signifies it is going to be medical loans at 0% interest.

According to the ZeroPe website, the app will offer instant pre-approved medical loans of up to Rs 5 lakhs in partnership with Delhi-based non-banking financial company (NBFC) Mukut Finvest. The service can be availed at partnered hospitals.

There are several med-fintech startups in India such as Qube Health, Mykare Health, SaveIN, Arogya Finance among others offering instant – also interest-free – medical loans.

When asked there are many medical fintech companies in India, what if someone says he did not copy your idea? Bukhari answers, “Ashneer is a very powerful person and he can prove too many things that he was already working on this idea. I am not trying to make allegations against him, but my whole point is to create awareness among young entrepreneurs that we should not trust big VCs and established entrepreneurs blindly with our idea.”

Despite the setback, Bukhari and Askari see a silver lining, viewing Grover's adoption of their idea as validation of Asaniyan’s potential. "Insaan hi toh galtiyaan karta hai,” Bukhari quips. “We will be working on our idea more aggressively now.”

On July 6th 2022, Grover, along with his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, set up an entity, Third Unicorn Pvt Ltd. In February 2023, the company launched cricket fantasy platform ‘CrickPe’ and raised about $4 million in seed round led by ZNL Growth Fund, with participation from over two dozen angel investors.

Grover didn't respond to a query sent to him over WhatsApp.