Adrian Gunadi Steps Down as Investree CEO Amid Misconduct Claims
by Fintech News Indonesia January 30, 2024Indonesian lender Investree‘s co-founder and CEO Adrian A Gunadi has tendered his resignation, effective 31 January 2024. This move comes amid allegations of misconduct and various challenges faced by the company, as reported by DealStreetAsia.
Adrian Gunadi
Gunadi’s resignation letter, a copy of which DealStreetAsia has accessed, confirms the irrevocability of his decision and states that he has no further claims against the company.
In a separate document reviewed by DealStreetAsia, Gunadi had reportedly admitted to have diverted funds from Investree to his personal account and used his position to make the lending firm a guarantor for a personal company.
Earlier, DealStreetAsia reported on the growing dissatisfaction among shareholders with Gunadi’s leadership, leading to an extraordinary general meeting on 17 January, where Salman Baharuddin, the company’s Chief of Sales for seven years, was slated to replace Gunadi. Baharuddin has reportedly been managing day-to-day operations for some time.
The resignation comes at a time when Investree is grappling with tight liquidity, despite announcing a US$231 million Series D funding in October last year, led by Qatar’s JTA International Holdings. The disbursement of these funds has been delayed, raising concerns among investors about the future influx of this capital. The situation is further complicated by Investree’s struggle to cover operational costs and generate revenue.
DealStreetAsia’s DATA VANTAGE platform reveals that Investree’s Singapore-registered parent company has so far raised US$31.7 million from investors, including a US$23.5 million Series C round in March 2020. However, the company’s financial struggles continued, as evidenced by the sale of shares in PT Bank Amar Indonesia Tbk, in which Investree had bought an 18.4% stake in August 2022.
Moreover, Investree has been facing issues with rising bad loans, with its TKB90 rate – a measure of timely loan repayments – consistently below the industry average. The company attributed this to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact and challenges in their credit scoring system.
In response to these developments, Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) has imposed administrative sanctions on Investree and is investigating the company for potential financial irregularities and wrongdoings.
Featured image credit: Edited from Freepik
