Creatify Web Services sends legal notice to Trell cofounder Bimal Kartheek Rebba for unpaid dues

Idiotic Media has also demanded compensation of Rs 5 lakh from Trell for causing mental agony and harassment.

ET has reviewed a copy of the legal notice and the email the agency and its lawyer sent to Trell on June 21.

Other recipients of the legal notice include Shreya Goel and Siddharth Vasishtha of Trell, who oversaw the engagement between the two firms.

“We have sent a legal notice on June 21 to Bimal Kartheek Rebba via e-mail for non-payment of our outstanding dues amounting to Rs 47 lakh. While they haven’t yet acknowledged the notice, we will be approaching the NCLT after July 6,” a spokesperson for Idiotic Media said in a statement. “We strongly believe that the only recourse available to us now is to approach the Indian courts and seek justice.”

Trell had earlier been
probed by a forensic team from EY India, which was looking into alleged related-party transactions, incorrect reporting of business numbers, and other financial irregularities, ET reported on March 12.

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ET first reported on June 27 that Trell
had not paid its dues to a section of content creators for the last 6-7 months.

“Trell hasn’t received any legal notice from the vendor. The company has paid more than 90% of all its vendors barring a few where there are disputes on delivery. These are contractual discussions and are confidential…,” a spokesperson for Trell said in a statement.

Idiotic Media said it ran influencer marketing campaigns for Trell in December and engaged 28 creators to promote Trell Shop, its online marketplace.

Trell promised the agency on December 9 over an email exchange that the payment would be processed within 45 days of post-campaign completion, which was in December.

ET has reviewed a copy of the email exchange between the agency and the company.

According to the legal notice, Trell owes the agency Rs 40.61 lakh for the campaign and GST amounting to Rs 7.31 lakh.

In March, Creatify “tried to make numerous contact” with Trell and its team regarding the non-payment of bills but the company has been avoiding its calls, as per the legal notice.

The agency said that after repeated attempts Trell promised to pay the entire amount by April, but no payment had been received so far.

According to the agency, on July 1, Trell’s cofounder Pulkit Agrawal had in a text message exchange with a senior executive at the agency asked for 15 days to revert as it was in the middle of hiring a finance consultant to help with streamlining payments.

The tenure for the legal notice ends on July 6 (the notice was sent on June 21) after which the agency will take further action, it said.

Launched as a lifestyle-centric short video app, Trell gained prominence when video apps boomed on the back of a ban on Chinese short-video app TikTok in 2020.

The agency started working with Trell the same year.

At its core, Trell wanted to create a large base of content creators who would fuel its video commerce ambitions by selling products on Trell Shop to tier II and tier III audiences. The marketplace features brands such as Lakme, Mamaearth, Maybelline, and Wow Skincare.

The EY forensics team was looking into alleged related-party transactions by its founders and other financial irregularities.

In the same month,
Trell laid off 300 employees amid growing uncertainty surrounding the company and talks of a funding round coming to a halt. Another 100 employees have since left or been laid off.

Trell also
sold its 10% stake in AppsForBharat to an existing investor, Mirae Asset. The secondary transaction amounting to $9-$9.5 million also saw Middle East investment fund MSA Novo buy AppsForBharat shares from the influencer-led video and shopping app, ET reported on April 5.

Trell had raised more than $62 million as of July last year from Mirae Asset, H&M Group and LB Investments, as well as Sequoia’s Surge startup accelerator programme.