BharatPe founder Koladia sues Grover to reclaim shares

Coladia is taking legal action against BharatPe co-founder and former managing director Grover to “get back his shares from him”.

The matter has been listed before Justice Prateek Jalan in the Delhi High Court.

Mint had first reported the fight between Coladia and Grover over shares last year.

As co-founders, Koladia and Shashwat Nakrani (who was then studying at IIT-Delhi) founded BharatPe in July 2017 and incorporated it in March 2018. Koladia was then the face of the company and was talking to investors for funding. Three months later in June 2018, Grover joined as the third co-founder.

According to Registrar of Companies filings, the shareholding structure when Grover joined was: Grover got 32% equity, Nakrani held 25.5%, and Koladia remained the largest shareholder in the company with a 42.5% stake.

However, six months later in December 2018, just before Sequoia came on board as an investor, Coladia’s name disappeared from the list of founders “due to the unease of the person serving a prison sentence in the US on the part of large institutional investors”. reason. “

read | Exactly how much stake in BharatPe does Ashneer hold? this is complex

[Koladiya went to the US in 2007 and was running a grocery store where he started accepting payments digitally without a license. This violated identity theft and mail fraud laws in the US, and he ended up getting arrested and jailed. After judicial proceedings that went on for 22 months, he was let go with a fine of $100 and deported back to India in 2015.]

And since then Grover became the face of the company. While Coladia remained the technical backbone of BharatPe – but as an ‘advisor’.

However, the founders and other stakeholders reached an understanding with the firm to reduce Coladia’s public involvement. The arrangement involved him transferring his stake to Grover, Nakrani, Nakrani’s father (also his former schoolteacher) and some angel investors.

At present, Koladia has filed a case in the Delhi High Court to get back his shares from Grover. As on date Grover holds shares worth more than 1000 crores for Coladia.

The defendants in this case also include BharatPe.

BharatPe raised its last funding round in 2021 at a valuation of $2.85 billion.

The development comes seven months after Koladia exited BharatPe. In August 2022, Mint was the first to report about Coladia’s exit from the firm and the reasons behind her move.

Soon after the ‘ugly’ boardroom battle between Grover and BharatPe ended with Grover’s exit, Coladia was planning to take legal action to get back his shares from Grover. “The company’s investors have also assured Coladia of outside support,” a source told Mint.

“But just a week before going to a Delhi court, Bhavik was told not to pursue the case against Ashneer as a settlement was being discussed with Grover – who was arrested last February for financial irregularities. Was asked to leave the company over the allegations. The year.”

One of the main reasons why Koladia ended his association with BharatPe was disagreement with the firm’s management.

When Mint reached out to Coladia for comment, he said: “I cannot comment on the matter as it is sub-judice right now. You can speak to my lawyers Sim & San.” BharatPe declined to comment, while Ashneer Grover did not respond to Mint’s queries.