Ashneer Grover, the controversial former Managing Director and co-founder of Bharat Pe, has incorporated a new company named Third Unicorn Private Ltd, according to a Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) filing.
Grover incorporated the company along with his wife Madhuri Jain on July 6. It is classified as a private limited company and is located in Delhi. Its authorised share capital is ₹20 lakh and the total paid-up capital is ₹10 lakh. Grover is reportedly in talks with global investors to raise capital for his new start-up.
On his 40th birthday in June, Grover had announced on Twitter that he will get back to business in a new sector. “ Today I turn 40. Some will say I’ve lived a full life and experienced more things than most. Created value for generations. For me it’s still unfinished business. Time to disrupt another sector. It’s time for the Third Unicorn !!,” his tweet on July 14 read.
Post a long tussle, BharatPe’s board of directors had stripped Grover of his co-founder tag over alleged financial irregularities and governance issues during his tenure. His wife Madhuri Jain, who held the position of head of controls at Bharat Pe, was also terminated amidst the debacle. Since then the couple has said that their ouster from the start-up was unfair and blamed the other top executives of the startup for the course of events that took place.
Grover had joined the fintech startup BharatPe in July 2018, when he was on-boarded by Bhavik Koladiya and Shashvat Nakrani, who had incorporated Bharat Pe. Later in August 2021, the startup became a unicorn as it raised $370 million in its Series E round led by Tiger Global Management.
Prior to Bharat Pe, he had held the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in instant delivery service startup Grofers (now Blinkit). Grofers too joined the unicorn club in 2021, after raising $120 million from food delivery company, Zomato and was later acquired by the food delivery unicorn for around $567 million.