Ashneer Grover’s Third Unicorn raises seed round
Led by ZNL Growth Fund, the funding round saw a participation from over two dozen angel investors, including Anmol Singh Jaggi, Anirudh Kedia among others
BharatPe's former CEO Ashneer Grover has raised about $4 million in seed funding for his venture Third Unicorn Pvt Ltd, according to a person aware of the development.
Led by ZNL Growth Fund, the funding round saw a participation from over two dozen angel investors, including Anmol Singh Jaggi, Anirudh Kedia, Vishal Kedia, among others.
Third Unicorn is launching a cricket fantasy gaming platform ‘Crickpe’. While the website still seems to be in the development phase, but it does show Crickpe – powered by Third Unicorn.
Founder Grover recently commented on LinkedIn: "We at Third Unicorn have quietly and peacefully built a business that is shaking the market. Bootstrapped. Without limelight. And we are doing things differently. Very differently.".
Grover further shared a slideshow giving a sneak peek at his new venture and shared how his new company will start with just 50 members. He further promised to give Mercedes to employees who complete five years in Third Unicorn. "Gratuity to bezzati liye hoti hai,” he said.
He further added that the company is only looking towards India-based investors and asked venture capitalists to stay away. "VCs-SheC's, please stay away. We use only desi/self-earned capital.”
Last year, while celebrating his 40th birthday, Grover announced on social media app Twitter that he is ready re-enter the world of business with plans to build another "unicorn". In his Twitter post, he tweeted, “Time to disrupt another sector. It’s time for the Third Unicorn."
BharatPe and Grofers are the two other unicorns Grover was associated with.
In July last year, Grover along with his wife Madhuri Jain Grover formed a new company called Third Unicorn Private Limited. The firm has a total paid-up capital of ₹10 lakh and an authorised share capital of ₹20 lakh.
Grover came with a pedigree and has been closely connected with the investment world right after his post-graduation. An alumnus of IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad, he worked at Kotak Mahindra’s investment banking division for seven years before moving to American Express in 2013, where he led startup investments for the card network in India.
He then joined Grofers, an online grocery startup founded by his IIT-Delhi classmate Albinder Dhindsa as CFO. However, he left the startup in 2017 as he was disappointed over not getting the ESOPs that were promised to him. Post that, Grover joined PC Jeweller Ltd and worked there for almost a year before joining BharatPe in June 2018.
In January last year, Grover was sent on a leave of absence after an audio clip surfaced online where he was heard being aggressive with a Kotak Mahindra Bank employee. Soon after, Grover and his wife were accused of financial irregularities – that eventually led to their removal from the company in March 2022.
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First Published:27 Feb 2023, 07:08 PM IST
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