Fintech company BharatPe has officially settled its long-standing legal battles with former co-founder Ashneer Grover. The resolution concludes years of public disputes and acrimony between the parties.
According to a statement from a BharatPe spokesperson, as part of the settlement, Grover will no longer hold any association with the company, neither as a shareholder nor in any other capacity.
Furthermore, a portion of Grover’s shares will be transferred to the Resilient Growth Trust for the benefit of BharatPe, while the remainder will be managed by his family trust. Both parties have agreed to drop the legal cases filed against each other.
A source close to the company revealed that Grover will transfer 1.4% of his holdings to the BharatPe board, with the remaining 3.5-3.7% being allocated to his family trust, effectively removing him from the company’s cap table. Additionally, Grover will return shares to BharatPe co-founder Bhavik Koladiya. In January 2023, Koladiya claimed that he had transferred 1,611 shares of BharatPe (now 16,110 shares) worth ₹88 lakh to Grover, but was never compensated for them. The issue was later taken to court, where Grover was prohibited from selling these shares.
“We wish Mr. Grover well. BharatPe remains focused on delivering industry-leading solutions to its merchants and customers, driving growth with profitability,” BharatPe stated in its release on September 30, 2024.
The Timing
The settlement between BharatPe and Ashneer Grover comes just days after Deepak Gupta, a family member of the former managing director and co-founder, was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police in connection with the alleged misappropriation of BharatPe’s funds.
Deepak Gupta, the husband of Madhuri Grover’s sister, was arrested on the night of September 19 and was set to be presented before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court. Madhuri Grover, Ashneer Grover’s wife, was previously dismissed from her role as Head of Controls at BharatPe.
In December 2022, BharatPe filed a criminal complaint against five individuals—Ashneer Grover, Madhuri Grover, Shwetank Jain (Madhuri’s brother), Suresh Jain (Ashneer’s father-in-law), and Deepak Gupta (Ashneer and Madhuri’s brother-in-law). The EOW later registered an FIR in May 2023 against Ashneer Grover, his wife, and their family members, accusing them of an ₹81-crore fraud.
Recent Arrests and Allegations
Last month, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) made its first arrest in the BharatPe fraud case, apprehending Amit Kumar Bansal. Bansal was accused of being involved with non-existent firms that received payments amounting to ₹72 crore from BharatPe’s directors between 2019 and 2021.
BharatPe has accused Ashneer Grover and his family of causing losses of ₹81.3 crore through fraudulent activities, including illegitimate payments to fake human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments to vendors linked to the accused, false input tax credit transactions, penalties paid to Goods and Services Tax (GST) authorities, illegal payments to travel agencies, forged invoices by Shwetank Jain, and destruction of evidence.
Ashneer Grover’s Second Innings
While Grover gained national attention after his stint on the Indian edition of Shark Tank, he is already working on his next venture in the fintech space. According to Moneycontrol, Grover is developing ZeroPe, an app focused on medical loans, which he is launching under his new startup, Third Unicorn. In 2023, Grover also launched CrickPe, a fantasy gaming platform.
IPO-bound BharatPe
Meanwhile, BharatPe is preparing for its IPO. On April 16, 2024, the company elevated Nalin Negi to the role of CEO after he served as interim CEO following Suhail Sameer’s exit in January 2023. Negi originally joined BharatPe as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in 2022 and held both positions for over a year. The fintech unicorn, backed by investors like Ribbit Capital, Coatue, Insight Partners, and Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India), is eyeing the public markets for a listing soon.
Source: msn
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