BENGALURU: Ashneer Grover, who had lost an arbitration that he filed against BharatPe, on March 1 resigned from the fintech firm as managing director of the company.
Grover had filed an arbitration with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre challenging BharatPe's decision to conduct a governance review.
In his resignation letter to the board, he said, "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."
“I write this with a heavy heart as today I am being forced to bid adieu to a company of which I am a founder. I say with my head held high that today this company stands as a leader in the fintech world. 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 they are ostensibly trying to protect.”
Grover also said that he is wasting himself fighting a long, lonely battle against investors and management.
"Build incrementally even half of the value I created so far – 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.
Grover's resignation comes days after the company's board sacked his wife Madhuri Jain Grover over alleged financial irregularities. 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 soon after that, the Board appointed an independent audit of the firm's internal process.
Also, Grover has been accused of financial fraud and the fintech board has initiated a complete audit of the governance processes.
Earlier, an audio clip, allegedly of Grover abusing and threatening a Kotak Mahindra Bank employee for missing out on Nykaa's IPO went viral on social media. Grover has been maintaining that the audio clip was fake.
BharatPe was co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018, and the company has been the biggest growth story in the fintech sector.
The company’s list of marquee investors includes Tiger Global, Dragoneer Investment Group, Steadfast Capital, Coatue Management, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Steadview Capital, Beenext, Amplo and Sequoia Capital.
(With inputs from PTI)