Ashneer Grover, Former BharatPe MD, earned a nice Rs 2.25 crore in 8 minutes during Zomato’s massive IPO on the stock market in 2021. In his autobiography, “Doglapan: The Hard Truth about Life and Start-Ups,” the former judge on “Shark Tank India” described how he used leverage to generate massive amounts of money in a matter of minutes.
“However, the case included straightforward leverage—IPO financing. While I put up Rs 5 crore from my own money, Kotak Wealth secured me finance for Rs 95 crore at a weekly interest rate of 10%. (the period for which IPO funds get blocked). This additional expense of Rs 20 lakh in interest was incurred to purchase the shares,” Ashneer Grover wrote in the Penguin book.
Due to oversubscription, Grover was able to buy shares of the meal delivery firm for Rs 3 crore, or Rs 76 per share. Grover sold all of the company’s shares for Rs 136 apiece within 8 minutes after the stock’s IPO at Rs 116 in July 2021.
“When the sale was finally completed, I received a selling price of Rs 136 per share. I made over Rs 2.25 crore with a landing cost of between Rs 82 and Rs 85 after interest,” he wrote in his book. However, later in 2021, Grover was criticised for allegedly getting into an argument with a representative from Kotak Mahindra Bank over the bank’s decision to not issue Nykaa shares.
It was widely shared on social media that an audio recording reportedly of the startup founder threatening to murder a Kotak bank staffer for not obtaining him the Nykaa IPO allocation. Ashneer Grover responded to the viral audio tape by saying it was completely fake. Grover sought to replicate Zomato’s success with the Car Trade IPO, but lost Rs 25 lakh.
In the book, he states that he has no desire to amass a holding in publicly traded stocks or bonds. “I’ve always believed that hedging your bets results in mediocre returns. Investing in high-risk early-stage founders is what fascinates me,” he said.
