Ashneer Grover, co-founder of BharatPe, and his wife, Madhuri Jain, have set up a new company called Third Unicorn, according to the Tofler database. The company was founded on 6 July 2022, just a few months after the couple's dramatic exit from BharatPe.
Tofler shows Grover and Jain as the directors of the company, listed to be in the industry of “computer related services.” The company’s authorised share capital is Rs 20 lakh and the total paid-up capital is Rs 10 lakh.
The Economic Times has also reported that a Memorandum of Association has been filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs regarding Third Unicorn’s establishment.
Grover posted a tweet in June on his 40th birthday, hinting at the creation of his next venture by saying, “Time to disrupt another sector. It’s time for the Third Unicorn !!”
Grover’s Past Ventures
Ashneer Grover was Chief Financial Officer at instant delivery startup Grofers, now called Blinkit, till 2017. He then became the Managing Director at fintech startup BharatPe.
He resigned from his post in February this year after being embroiled in controversy at the start of this year.
An audio clip of Grover verbally abusing a Kotak Mahindra Bank employee and emails regarding an old spat between Grover and the MD of Sequoia Capital surfaced.
Then, BharatPe revealed that an internal investigation had found Grover, and certain members of his family guilty of financial fraud.
"The Grover family and their relatives engaged in extensive misappropriation of company funds, including, but not limited to, creating fake vendors through which they siphoned money away from the company’s expense account and grossly abused company expense accounts in order to enrich themselves and fund their lavish lifestyles," said BharatPe.
On 23 February, BharatPe sacked his wife, Madhuri Jain, who was the Head of Controls at the company, for alleged misappropriation of funds, as found by an independent audit.
Grover resigned shortly after.
In an impassioned resignation letter, he talked about how he had been vilified by the company, saying that “Investor-Founder relation in India is one of Master-Slave. I am the rebel slave who must be hung by the tree so none of the other slaves can dare to be like me ever again.”
(With inputs from The Economic Times)
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