In an unending boardroom battle, the latest conflict is between Bhavik Koladiya and Ashneer Grover – over Koladiya’s stake in the company. This is an issue BharatPe’s shareholders will need to sort out, with the company board unlikely to intervene on the matter.
According to sources close to the development have told ET, Koladiya is believed to have split his holding between Ashneer and another co-founder, Shashvat Nakrani. Till about 2018, Koladiya held over a 30 per cent stake in the company, but this was diluted as the fintech company received more funding.
Currently, the company’s key investors are Sequoia Capital which has nearly 19.6 per cent stake, Coatue has 12.4 per cent stake, Ribbit Capital has 11 per cent, and Beenext 9.6 per cent stake, among others.
The Curious Case of Koladiya’s stake
“Before Sequoia Capital came into the picture, Koladiya’s stake was split between the other two founders to take him off the cap table. There was an email conversation on the matter as well,” a person close to the development told ET, adding it is likely that there would have been an arrangement between the two.
Meanwhile, Koladiya is also consulting with lawyers on the matter as relations between him and Grover have worsened, as was evident in a leaked phone conversation between the two.
“Given the way things have panned out in the last week or so, there will be more conflict related to Koladiya’s stake in the firm and the previous agreements. Roughly of the 8.5-9.5 per cent current stake of Grover, Koladiya would be around 4 per cent. There was a similar agreement between Koladiya and Nakrani as well,” the person told ET.
Koladiya’s LinkedIn profile now says BharatPe, with no official designation.
In 2015, Koladiya was convicted in a credit card fraud case in the US. According to the US Department of Justice, District Judge Mark Hornak had imposed the sentence on Bhavikkumar H. Koladiya, aka “Bob Patel”, of Monroeville, Pennsylvania.
Koladiya, the operator of the “Atwood Xpress” in Oakland, stole identities from other persons which he used to open credit card accounts at US Bank, Chase Bank, Discover card, and others, and then bought merchandise, including diamonds, with the stolen credit cards.
Finally, his stake in BharatPe was distributed between Ashneer and Nakrani. Ashneer has 8.5 per cent stake in the company and Koladiya would be around 4 per cent of this figure, sources said. There was a similar agreement between Koladiya and Nakrani as well.
How did the Koladiya Angle Come to Limelight
Tensions between Grover and Koladiya first came into the limelight when Grover wrote to BharatPe’s Board on February 22, informing members of his phone conversation with Koladiya. In the letter, Grover stated that he had received calls from Koladiya in the presence of board chairman Rajnish Kumar for a possible meeting.
Koladiya joined the Ashneer-BharatPe saga when Ashneer’s wife Madhuri Jain Grover, former head of controls at BharatPe, who was also sacked over charges of financial fraud, escalated the battle via social media. She posted a video clip of an office party on Twitter where Suhail Sameer, CEO of BharatPe, and Koladiya were seen. However, Jain later took down her tweet posted on the microblogging site.
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