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The verdict is in for Eke Urum, the embattled CEO and co-founder of Risevest who was accused by colleagues of fostering an unhealthy work environment.
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The panel said that Urum is guilty of sexual improprieties, bullying, and making inappropriate jokes to colleagues. As a result, he will be transitioning into a non-executive role at the company. He said he will take the time to grow.
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Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.
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Summary of the news
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- Risevest's CEO has been found guilty of sexual impropriety
- Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter at a 30% discount
- A new report predicts that venture capital investment in Africa will hit $7bn by the end of 2022
- Buycoins Basic will now be part of the investment app, Accrue
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Risevest CEO found guilty of sexual impropriety
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Embattled founder and former CEO of fintech startup Risevest, Eke Urum, has been found guilty of sexual impropriety, abuse of power and workplace bullying following a six-week investigation into complaints levied against him by colleagues, the company said in a statement yesterday, Technext reports.
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This comes after Urum "stepped aside" from his role as CEO to allow an independent investigation into the matter.
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See an excerpt from Risevest's statement below:
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The evidence presented to the panel could not prove sexual assault by Eke Urum. However, the evidence presented to the panel including admitted sexual relations with an employee and unwanted, inappropriate jokes and conversations revealed sexual impropriety.
It also showed a pattern of abuse of power, intimidation, retaliation and workplace bullying by him.
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Urum told TechCabal in response to the decision that he regrets his actions and will focus on growing.
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See an excerpt from Urum's response below:
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As a leader, I have grown a lot over the years and still have a lot of growing to do, which is why I’m going to be taking additional coaching and executive training.
I regret the distraction that my actions may have caused and fully respect the integrity of the process the Risevest investors and the panel underwent to identify the gaps in our systems and my leadership.
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Tony Odiba, the acting CEO who replaced Urum during the investigation will stay on in that capacity until the board appoints a new CEO. Urum will become a non-executive board member and will lead the startup’s investment strategy and provide guidance on technology.
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Elon Musk sought to reduce his initial Twitter offer
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In the weeks before Elon Musk declared that his bid to own Twitter was back on the table, his representatives spoke with the company several times about redoing the deal at a lower price, four people familiar with the discussions said.
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The New York Times reports that Musk sought a discount of as much as 30 per cent, three of the people said, a proposal that would have valued the company at roughly $31 billion. Twitter rebuffed the proposal, said the people, who requested anonymity because the talks were confidential.
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In the past week, however, discussions narrowed to a discount of about 10 per cent, which would have allowed Musk to pay about $39.6 billion for Twitter. Those talks ultimately did not move forward. Twitter’s market cap as of Wednesday was $39.2 billion.
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The talks took place just weeks before a scheduled showdown in a Delaware courtroom to determine whether Musk must follow through with the $44 billion Twitter takeover bid he launched in April. He indicated in July that he no longer wished to buy the social media company, citing what he said was an uncontrollable spam problem. Twitter sued him to force the deal through.
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Startups in Africa raise over $4 billion so far in 2022
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A look at the industry numbers shows that 2022 has been quite an interesting year for startups in Africa. Since the beginning of the year, a huge flow of venture capital investment has found its way into the African tech ecosystem, with many startups on the continent raising unprecedented amounts to expand their services, Technext reports.
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According to The Big Deal, a newsletter that tracks fundraising in Africa, over $4 billion have already been raised by startups in Africa in 2022. This figure, however, represents some sort of decline due to Q3 numbers which were said to be “slightly disappointing.”
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Unlike the first and second quarters of the year, Q3 “registered a fall of -53% YoY in the amount raised and -25% YoY in a number of deals ($100k+, excluding grants),” the newsletter said.
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The reason for this may not be unconnected to a slow down in ‘mega deals’ of $100m and above. But of course, better days are ahead if one considers the impressive numbers recorded in the past. For instance, in 2021, 604 African startups raised a record high figure of $5.2 billion, according to the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA), an industry group.
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A word from our partners!
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Buycoins Basic moves to Accrue
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Accrue, a young startup founded just last year, that helps users in Nigeria and Ghana make small-scale investments in crypto, stocks etc has announced a new partnership with Buycoins that will see Buycoins Basic transition into Accrue. The companies made the announcement on their blogs yesterday.
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As part of the deal, Helicarrier (Buycoins parent company) will become "a significant shareholder" in Accrue.
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See an excerpt from the statement below:
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Helicarrier and Accrue have a long history together. Helicarrier was the very first investor in Accrue which was founded by ex-Helicarrier teammates. The mission to help Africans build wealth by leveraging transformational digital currency technology is a shared driving force for both companies.
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Clinton Mbah, Co-founder Accrue said:
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Everything you love about Helicarrier culture and its products — ease of use, timely customer support, fantastic product sense, execution speed, technical chops, and tenacity in the face of adversity, are tenets we brought over to Accrue. We’re committed to these tenets forever.
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Timi Ajiboye, CEO Helicarrier said:
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Embarking on this partnership underscores our dedication to democratising wealth building on the continent. Accrue has built the perfect wealth building tool for the internet powered African & we’re excited to bring that experience to 100k+ Buycoins users.
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Latest in funding
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Other stories we are following
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