Another death knell sounds in the Kenya startup ecosystem. Lipa Later, the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform management has shifted, with Joy Vipinchandra Bhatt of Moore JVB Consulting appointed administrator on March 24.
Bhatt will now oversee the company’s business, assets, and management, and directors must seek approval for any transactions.
As per the public notice citing the Insolvency Act 2015, Section 563 (2) (b), “ The Administrator takes control over the business, assets, and the management of the affairs of the company without personal liability.”
With the administration in effect, Lipa Later’s directors can no longer deal with or transact company assets without the administrator’s express permission.
“Moving forward, all matters, operational or otherwise, pertaining to the affairs of the company shall be directed to the administrator or their authorized representatives,” reads part of the notice.
To facilitate the best possible outcome for the company, the administrator is actively engaging with all key stakeholders. Creditors are required to provide complete details of any claims to the Administrator by April 23, 2025.
Lipa Later Funding Rounds
Established in 2018, Lipa Later operated a hire-purchase service, providing upfront payments to retailers while collecting installments from customers. The company secured KES 1.36 billion in debt and equity financing to support its expansion into new African markets.
In 2023, Lipa Later Group secured KES 500 million in private debt, signaling investor confidence in Kenya’s BNPL market, which was further evidenced by Safaricom, Craft Silicon, and Mastercard’s BNPL initiatives that year.
Same year, the startup raised KES 9 million via an equity crowdfunding campaign on Republic. The round attracted 84 investors and closed on October 29, 2023. This came a year after it had acquired Sky.Garden, a Kenyan e-commerce platform, for KES 250 million.
During the crowdfunding round, the company said it was not crowdfunding out of necessity. “We recently raised a significant amount of debt investment; we have adequate funding,” Eric Muli, the founder and CEO of LipaLater, said. “This public crowdfund is to raise equity investments to improve our debt-to-equity ratio,”
However, the business’s financial instability soon became public when Africa Foresight Group filed Insolvency Notice E022 of 2023 seeking payment of KES 1.75 million (USD 13,516.00) from Lipa Later.
In the notice filed in the High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Commercial Courts), the creditor threatened to commence liquidation proceedings against the BNPL platform.
