Start-ups are seeking to sever their ties with a technology investor after he was charged with sexual assault.

Several companies that have received personal investments from Stefan Glaenzer said they were seeking to remove him from their shareholder registers.

Mr Glaenzer, a co-founder of the venture capital firm Passion, which is backed by the Government and is the biggest investor in Monzo, pleaded not guilty to a sexual assault charge last week.

Westminster Magistrates Court heard that it is alleged that he assaulted a woman as she bent over a dishwasher at a co-working space on Pembroke Road in Notting Hill, west London, last year.

While Passion has already moved to remove Mr Glaenzer from its funds, the German has personally invested in a string of British start-ups including consumer finance company Lendable and the office provider Second Home.

Several start-ups that Mr Glaenzer holds personal stakes in said they were taking legal advice and would seek to encourage him to sell his shares.

Mr Glaenzer has also invested in betting exchange Smarkets and office space company Lift99 among dozens of angel investments.

The start-ups that said they were seeking to cut ties with Mr Glaenzer did not want to be identified due to potential legal issues. Some said they were concerned that irrespective of the outcome of the case any association could affect their ability to raise funds in future.

Mr Glaenzer, 60, co-founded Passion in 2011 after making millions from selling companies such as Last.fm. The music service was set up in east London in 2002 to track the musical tastes of millions of users before being sold five years later to the US media company CBS for $280m.

Passion received backing from the British Business Bank in 2015 and has stakes in Monzo, payments service GoCardless and car insurance firm Marshmallow. Mr Glaenzer stood to earn tens of millions of pounds in rewards as a partner in the fund.

Passion said earlier this month it was seeking to stop him sharing in future profits by removing him from its funds, saying: “We have moved to sever any and all trailing contractual commitments that remained between him and our historic funds and activities.”

Mr Glaenzer was charged in March after allegedly pushing his genitals into a woman’s buttocks before walking away at the office space near his home in west London last year. 

On Thursday he pleaded not guilty and chose to face a jury trial over the charges.

Mrs Gay Cheyne, chair of the bench at Westminster Magistrates Court, granted Mr Glaenzer unconditional bail. He is set to appear at Isleworth Crown Court on May 12 for a case management hearing.

Mr Glaenzer did not respond to a request for comment.