BharatPe cofounder Ashneer Grover demands an amount as a condition to leave the company.
Money demanded by the cofounder to leave BharatPe:
Despite being accused of fraud, abrasive behavior and corporate governance issues leading to an investigation, BharatPe cofounder Ashneer Grover is demanding Rs 4,000 crore from investors to buy out his stake if they want him to exit the company.
What was Grover accused of?
Grover was accused of using foul language while alleging that Kotak Bank failed to secure financing and allocation of the shares in beauty firm Nykaa’s initial public offering.
Grover denies all accusations:
However, Grover denies all accusations saying that he will leave the company only if an investor buys out his 9.5% stake in the company at a valuation of $6 billion, as he said in an interview.
He said, “What have I done to resign? This is like execution before trial. I am the MD.”
“I run the company. If the board thinks I don’t need to be the MD and someone else should run the company, please put my Rs 4,000 crore on the table and take the key away from me,” he added.
He said, “If you want to buy me out you want to buy me out at the fair market value, right? In my view the fair market value is $6 billion. Either I’ll run the company or they buy me out, there is no third option.”
In the last year valuation, BharatPe was valued at $3 billion when the fintech company raised $370 million from Tiger Global, Coatue and others.
Grover further added, “From May 2021, when the round was priced, my merchant business today is 50% higher. I have got a bank license, which was not there then. I have built the largest P2P (peer-to-peer) platform, 12% Club, which wasn’t there.
I have built PostPe, a BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) play. We have also merged PMC (Bank) in addition to getting the license. If I was running the business, I am extremely confident of doing a $6 billion valuation round.”
