IANS | 09 Nov, 2023
Tech and Internet company Info Edge lost around Rs 532 crore after
writing off its investment in Rahul Bhoopsingh Yadav’s Broker Network
(4B Networks Private Limited), according to reports.
While Info
Edge’s cash infusion in Broker Network was Rs 288 crore, the rest is the
notional loss from a higher valuation that the startup had reached.
The
proptech startup had a valuation of Rs 719 crore before Info Edge had
to write down its entire investment, reports Moneycontrol.
The
company impaired the amount considering current state of affairs and
other relevant factors, including excessive cash burn, prevailing
liquidity issues and significant uncertainty towards funding options,
reports Entrackr.
Info Edge has a 59 percent stake in 4B Networks.
Following
a complaint by Info Edge, the proprietors of Naukri.com, the Economic
Offences Wing (EOW) is now probing the case pertaining to allegedly
transferring a part of the investors’ monies to another company where
Rahul’s wife Karishma Yadav is the co-owner and a CEO.
Info Edge
had invested a total of Rs 276-crore in Yadav’s company 4B Networks Pvt
Ltd., and given him a Rs 12-crore loan, totalling to Rs 288-crore, and
has claimed that the money was allegedly siphoned off through illegal
means.
The complaint accused Yadav of misappropriating the funds
in different forms like shady transactions, loans to some former
staffers, heavy deposit for an office allegedly routed via his wife’s
company, and vendors purportedly transferring payments from 4B Networks
to other companies of the family.
Earlier in August, the EOW had
booked Yadav and his associate Sanjay Saini following a complaint lodged
by Co-Founder of Interspace Communications Pvt Ltd, Vikas Omprakash
Nowal, for allegedly cheating him of a total of Rs 10-crore.
Later,
the EOW had raided the offices and homes of Yadav-Saini duo, a Look Out
Circular was issued against Yadav, while a Mumbai Court rejected his
anticipatory bail plea in end-August.
Meanwhile, Info Edge’s
revenue from operations grew 47.6 per cent to Rs 2,345 crore during the
fiscal year ending March 2023 in contrast to Rs 1,589 crore in FY22,
according to the company’s consolidated annual financial statements.