Invact Metaversity angel investor says co-founder Maheshwari holding company hostage

New Delhi/Bengaluru: Gergely Orosz, one of the early angel investors in troubled ed-tech firm Invact Metaversity, has publicly chastised cofounder and chief executive Manish Maheshwari, days after the latter tweeted that the online learning platform was at a “crossroads”.

ET had previously reported on May 23 about an email that Invact cofounder Tanay Pratap had sent to investors detailing the rift between the two and saying that the company was on the verge of a shutdown as it fires employees.

Responding to Maheshwari's series of Twitter posts, Orosz said, “I am an investor in @invactHQ. Contrary to what this thread says, the company is not failing. However, its CEO is.”


Replying to Maheshwari’s tweet regarding the company, Orosz added in the same reply: “The company has a product, has a CTO, and is executing. It also has a CEO holding the company hostage. As an investor, I see @invactHQ succeeding, but without you.”


Pratap said he and Maheshwari have had ‘irreconcilable differences.’

Multiple sources have since told ET that Maheshwari had threatened to sue the company’s investors and Pratap, during verbal arguments.

ET had earlier reported, based on Pratap’s mail, that Maheshwari’s vested stake was pegged at 5.8% and investors offered the former Twitter executive $87,000 to quit.

In his email to investors, Pratap had also said that he “reserves the right to seek legal recourse” for not being consulted on Maheshwari’s rejection of the offer.

Invact Metaversity did not respond to ET’s queries till press time Wednesday.

Both the founders of Invact Metaversity, which began operations in October last year, have had differences of opinion over the vision and execution of the startup and had brought these issues before their investors last month.

“There was a breakdown in discussions between the two of us due to irreconcilable differences,” Pratap said in the email.

In an interview to ET on May 25, Maheshwari said the idea of Invact Metaversity was also perhaps ahead of its time.

“We were on the lookout for something that was ahead of its time. As we started testing the early versions of the Metaversity platform with real students, it became apparent to us that the immersive classroom and community experience was not being delivered at the level we had envisaged,” he said.

He also said the company was also exploring the option of letting one of the founders take full charge and drive it going forward.

Invact Metaversity raised $5 million in February led by Arkam Ventures and investors including Antler India, Picus Capital (Germany), M Venture Partners (Singapore), BECO Capital (Dubai) and 2amVC (US), valuing the startup at $33 million.