The controversy associated with Fintech startup BharatPe is not taking its name to end. The latest controversy is about the stake of the company’s original founder Bhavik Koladiya, a part of which is said to be with Ashneer Grover. According to a report, the board of BharatPe has denied any interference in this new dispute. In such a situation, now the shareholders will have to resolve this dispute together.
According to a report, Koladia had split its stake between Ashneer Grover and another co-founder Shashwat Nakrani. As of about 2018, Koladia held over 30 per cent stake in the company. However, their stake declined later with the addition of investors in the new funding round.
At present, 19.6 per cent stake in BharatPe is held by Sequoia Capital, which is the company’s principal investor. While Coatue holds 12.4 percent, Ribbit Capital holds 11 percent and Benext holds 9.6 percent.
Interesting case of Koladia’s stake
A source close to the company said, “Before Sequoia Capital invested in the company, the stake in Colladia was split between the other two cofounders, so that Colladia’s name could be removed from the shareholder list. The matter was also discussed over email. And perhaps there was an agreement between them as well.”
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However, in the meantime Ashneer Grover was removed from the company. Also, the relationship between Ashneer and Bhavik Koladia has also deteriorated in the entire process, as revealed by the recent leak of an purported audio of a conversation between the two. Koladia’s stake got stuck with Ashneer exiting the company and he is now consulting lawyers in the matter.
A second source said, “Given the way things have unfolded in the last one week, it can be said that there will be more controversy regarding Colladia’s stake in the company and the agreement related to it. Broadly Ashneer Grover The company currently holds around 8.5-9.5 per cent stake in the company. However, Koladia holds around 4 per cent in it. Koladia and Shashwat Nakarani also have a similar stake agreement.
Why Koladia had to share its stake
In 2015, Koladia was convicted in a credit card fraud case in the US. According to the US Justice Department, District Magistrate Mark Horneck sentenced Bhavikkumar H. Koladia alias “Bob Patel” of Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Subsequently, due to legal hurdles, Koladia had to split its stake between Ashneer Grover and Shashwat Nakrani.
After this, Ashneer Grover used to lead BharatPe in all major funding-rounds. The company was valued at $2.8 billion in the last funding round in 2021. Grover became the managing director of BharatPe last year. However, at the same time he continued to lead BharatPe in the funding-round. According to Koladia’s LinkedIn profile, he is associated with BharatPe, but it does not mention his position.
How will Koladia get his stake back?
Sources close to Grover said that given the manner in which he has been unnecessarily removed from the company, it can be said that he is not going to give up his stake in the company easily. In such a situation, it has become a very complicated situation that how to transfer the stake of Koldiya now after taking them back from Ashneer Grover. Meanwhile, Koldia is consulting his lawyers in the matter.
Ashneer Grover shares 100 crores
Ashneer Grover, in an interview to an English newspaper a few days ago, alleged that the company snatched stock options worth about Rs 100 from him. He said, “I actually gave up management stock options worth about Rs 100 crore, which I got. They snatched it from me. They also cheated Madhuri Jain (Ashneer’s wife and former head of controls of BharatPe) And also took away his equity worth Rs 12 crore.”
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