Clipped from: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/bharatpes-ashneer-grover-takes-voluntary-leave-from-company-board/articleshow/88993485.cmsSynopsis
“For now, the Board has accepted Ashneer’s decision which we agree is in the best interests of the company, our employees and investors, and the millions of merchants we support each day,” the company said.
Bengaluru: Ashneer Grover, cofounder and managing director of BharatPe, told the company’s board on Monday that he has decided to take a voluntary leave of absence from the fintech until the end of March. Grover has been in the midst of a controversy after an audio clip of his purported phone conversation with aKotak Mahindra BankNSE -1.88 % employee was leaked earlier this month. “For now, the board has accepted Ashneer’s decision, which we agree is in the best interests of the company, our employees and investors, and the millions of merchants we support each day,” BharatPe said in a statement. The company will continue to be led by chief executive Suhail Sameer, who was appointed to the post in August.
Two individuals aware of the discussion told ET that investors in BharatPe’s board had met Grover last week to discuss the matter and the future course of action.
In the first week of January, an anonymous handle on Twitter — ‘bongo babu’ — had posted a SoundCloud link to an audio clip of a man – allegedly Grover – abusing and threatening the bank employee over the phone after missing out on Nykaa’s initial public offering.
Grover initially tweeted that the audio clip was fake and that “some scamster” was trying to extort $240,000 in bitcoin from him. He also shared screenshots of the alleged emails seeking money.
The same week, the audio clip was taken off Twitter and SoundCloud and Grover deleted the tweet claiming it was fake.
Replying to ET’s queries, Grover said that he deleted the tweet since the original clip was removed from Twitter and SoundCloud.
On January 16, ET reported about Grover’s past indiscretions and fallouts and the silence of his company’s board. The following day, ET also reported on emails showing his spat with Sequoia Capital India’s managing director Harshjit Sethi in August 2020, raising further questions about Grover’s behaviour.
In a report last year on BharatPe partnering with 44-year-old non-banking financial company Centrum Finance to acquire a banking licence, sources had told ETtech that the company’s investors were not comfortable with Grover’s “mercurial style” of leadership.
By August 2021, he had been made managing director at BharatPe, with recent hire Suhail Sameer taking on the role of chief executive.
Grover and BharatPe have also been embroiled in a public spat and legal battle around the ‘Pe’ suffix with rival PhonePe, which owned by Flipkart.
BharatPe has been one of the well-funded fintechs in the Indian startup ecosystem and recently raised $370 million in a round led by Tiger Global.
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