Wapi Pay loses major investor following alleged assault by the Ndichu brothers

Kepple Africa ventures, a Japanese owned venture based capital in Africa has announced it’s decision to reliquinsh all the rights of its investment stake in Wapi Pay.

In a statement on the company’s website, Kepple Africa says it has zero tolerance on assault of women hence the decision.

“In light of the alleged assault on women by the founders of our portfolio company Wapi Pay, we Kepple Africa Ventures hereby announce that we have zero tolerance on such conduct and that we will relinquish all the rights of our investment stake in Wapi Pay.” read the statement.

Wapi Pay received $2.2 million in pre-seed fundraising lately. EchoVC, China-based global fund MSA Capital, and Kepple Africa Ventures were among the investors in that round.

Kepple Africa invested in 36 African startups in 2020, making it one of the continent’s most active organizations in terms of the number of startups it has supported. According to the Disrupt Africa Report, the company has made 22 more investments in the first seven months of 2021.

In a contadictory statement issued by Wapi Pay, Eddie Ndichu and Paul Ndichu claim that the events of the video shared online do not reflect the true events of the night.

https://twitter.com/wapi_pay/status/1450328158910259202

“We found the story distasteful and troubling and want to firmly state that any type of behaviour involving violence against women does not reflect our values nor does it reflect those of Eddie and Paul,” it said.

“Our understanding is that the allegations and video currently being shared on social media albeit horrific and regrettable, do not depict the true events of what transpired that night.”

Wapi Pay, on the other hand, described the occurrence as regrettable and repulsive, emphasizing that they oppose all forms of gender-based violence.

“To be clear Paul and Eddie got involved in an attempt to neutralize a confrontation between two women and to defend themselves from certain aggressors,” the company said.

Wapi Pay is a Kenyan fintech based in Singapore with offices in Nairobi, Singapore, and Tianjin, China. It uses technology to provide platform-to-platform integrations, global accounts, and virtual accounts (wallets) to its partners and customers, making global payments and financial products more convenient for individuals, merchants, and businesses.