Dailyhunt parent VerSe's group CFO steps down citing 'health reasons'

Sandip Basu, Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of VerSe Innovation—the parent company of Dailyhunt—stepped down earlier this month citing health reasons, people in the know told YourStory.

Basu's resignation comes amid a delay in the company's FY24 audit. As of now, the company has not formally filed its financial results with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

A spokesperson confirmed Basu's departure and said that the company was in the process of finding a successor.

The CapTable had earlier reported on the company's delay in its FY24 audit. Umang Bedi, Co-founder and CEO of VerSe Innovation, claimed that the delay was from its auditor Deloitte's end, and that going forward PricewaterhouseCoopers is expected to take over as its auditor.

The development was first reported by The Mint.

VerSe's finance team has seen a rapid churn over the past year with the exit of Rajiv Sikaria and Piyush Agarwal, deepening concerns around financial stability at the company, which operates news aggregator Dailyhunt and short video app Josh.

Rajiv Sikaria, who was with the company for close to three years, was responsible for M&A and was also the finance chief for BMEG and BMEG Mena. Piyush Agarwal, meanwhile, was the Director and Head of Finance for Daily Hunt, managing investor relations, taxation, accounting, and corporate finance.

The mid-level changes, which occurred over a year ago, are not reflective of current leadership dynamics, a VerSe Innovation spokesperson said.

​In March this year, VerSe announced its FY24 financials, reporting a 13% drop in revenue to Rs 1,261 crore, falling short of its expectations of double-digit growth. The company also revised its FY23 revenue numbers. However, the company claimed to have cut its operating loss to Rs 710 crore in FY24 from Rs 1,448 crore in the previous year by reducing its marketing spend, content-related expenses, and salary hikes.

(The story has been updated with additional details.)