Courtesy-Entrackr
Alleging that Ventureast’s some dealings with Affle are a deliberate bad faith attempt for scuttling PhonePe’s most of the acquisitions in OS Labs, PhonePe has filed a formal complaint with the market regulator Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI) against Ventureast, according to the company.
To acquire a majority stake in Indus OS Labs which is a homegrown app and content discovery platform in an all-cash deal worth $60 million, the Walmart-owned digital payments platform PhonePe was in advance stages of discussions for the same. By purchasing a stake from 19 angel investors along with few investors, including Omidyar Network, Micromax, JSW Ventures, it currently holds around 32 per cent share in the OS Labs.
An arbitration case has been filed against the OS Labs in Singapore court by the mobile advertising company Affle Global which is also a minority stakeholder in Indus OS, claiming that they have the right of first refusal (ROFR) on the sale of the founder’s share. Another case has been filed against Affle and Ventureast (another Indus OS investor) by PhonePe in a Singapore court.
The complaint filed with SEBI against Ventureast by PhonePe resonates with several violations of SEBI’s code of conduct concerning Ventureast Proactive Fund-II (VPF)’s recent side dealings with Affle which is an attempt to scuttle the majority acquisition by PhonePe in the OS Labs, as PhonePe mentioned in one of its statements on Saturday. While Ventureast declined to comment along with emails sent to Indus OS and Affle not eliciting a response. An additional statement by PhonePe noted that a lawsuit has already been filed against Affle and Ventureast in Singapore.