BharatPe founder Ashneer Grover has resigned from the fintech firm as managing director after he lost an arbitration that he had filed against the company. The Shark Tank judge had filed an arbitration with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre challenging BharatPe's decision to conduct a governance review.?
His resignation letter to the board said,?"Since the beginning of 2022, unfortunately, I¡¯ve been embroiled in baseless and targeted attacks on me and my family by a few individuals who are ready not only to harm me and my reputation but also harm the reputation of the company, which ostensibly they are trying to protect."
He added,?"Build incrementally even half of the value I created so far ¨C I am leaving you with three times the funds I¡¯ve utilized till date. I hereby resign as the Managing Director of BharatPe, effective immediately. I also resign as a Director of the Board. I will continue as the single largest individual shareholder of the Company," he said.?
His wife, Madhuri Jain was recently terminated from the company, and she called the ongoing governance review "an eyewash and means to an end". Grover took a voluntary leave of absence from the company on January 19, and after that, the Board appointed an independent audit of the firm's internal process.?
Ashneer has also been accused of financial fraud and the BharatPe board has initiated a completed audit of the governance processes. An audio clip of Grover abusing and threatening a Kotak Mahindra Bank employee over Nykaa IPO had gone viral on social media.?According to Grover, the audio clip was fake.?
BharatPe was co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018, and the company has had the biggest growth story in the fintech sector.?The company¡¯s list of investors includes Tiger Global, Dragoneer Investment Group, Steadfast Capital, Coatue Management, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Steadview Capital, Beenext, Amplo and Sequoia Capital.
Ashneer Grover became a popular household name in India after the fintech guru appeared on Shark Tank India, and earned fame as the 'blunt' judge. He was known to call out participants in a rather hostile manner which did not sit well with a lot of viewers. He also became the face of many memes and jokes after the show was over.?
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