Investors Pull Out of Ndichu Twins’ Fintech Over Assault Video

The fall-out from a viral video showing the Ndichu twins, co-founders of Wapi Pay, in an altercation at Ole Sereni has seen one of the fintech firm’s investors pull out.

Eddie and Paul Ndichu have come under fire for perpetuating alleged gender based violence after footage emerged showing them fighting women at Ole Sereni Hotel, Nairobi even as one of the brothers was seen breaking off a car side-mirror. It was alleged that the altercation took place after a woman at the hotel rejected their advances.

Kepple Africa Ventures took part in Wapi Pay’s $2.2 Million (Ksh244 million) pre-seed funding round this year alongside EchoVC & China-based global fund MSA Capital.

Kepple Africa Ventures General Partner Takahiro Kamisaki confirmed in a tweet that they had cut ties with Wapi Pay and its founders over the allegations against them.

“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 announce that we will relinquish all the rights of our investment stake in Wapi Pay,” he wrote.

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Based in Singapore and headquartered in Kenya, Wapi Pay offers global payment and remittance services focused on the Africa-Asia corridor. The video has fueled widespread public outrage against the firm and its founders.

A statement issued by the firm defending its founders was not well received online, and sparked further backlash after it was shared on Tuesday, October 19.

“Our understanding is that the allegations and the video being shared on social media, albeit horrific and regrettable, do not depict the true events that transpired that night. To be clear, Paul and Eddie got involved in an attempt to neutralize a confrontation between two women and to defend themselves from certain aggression,” Wapi Pay claimed.

Among voices who called out Wapi Pay over the statement was activist Scheaffer Okore, who wrote: “This doubling down tactic in the face of public GBV is callous, irresponsible and contemptuous.”

Wapi Pay noted that the matter was being investigated by the Police and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

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