Get a loan with carrot

The parent company of Nigerian logistics startup Kwik was declared bankrupt in Amsterdam. 

If this reminds you of Gokada’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy and you’re tempted to lament that the logistics sector is where venture capital goes to die, hold off for a moment. Kwik’s CEO, Romain Poirot-Lellig told TechCabal that the company is not insolvent and, in fact, raised $1 million this year. So, why the bankruptcy declaration?

Bankruptcy filings vary. Gokada’s Chapter 11 filing in the U.S. is a reorganization process used when a company is running out of cash and needs protection from creditors while developing a repayment plan under court supervision. 

Kwik’s situation is different. Their bankruptcy was not initiated by the company but by a former employee, Adam Grant, who is owed approximately $50,000. Grant, previously head of marketing at Kwik, was fired and claimed wrongful termination. He sued Kwik, winning a court order for $75,000 to be paid in three installments. After Kwik paid the first installment, they withheld the second, citing concerns that Grant wouldn’t pay required income taxes, which would force Kwik to cover additional costs beyond the settlement.

Frustrated, Grant returned to court, arguing that Kwik’s parent company was unable to pay him and couldn’t be trusted to do so. He supported his claim by pointing to Kwik’s significant debt to other creditors. The Amsterdam court sided with Grant, placing Kwik’s parent company under administration, meaning a third-party administrator will oversee financial operations to ensure creditors, including Grant, are paid. Another creditor, B54—a startup providing credit lines to other startups—collaborated with Grant in this filing. B54 had previously attempted a similar bankruptcy claim against Kwik in a Nigerian court in 2024 but was unsuccessful.

Kwik’s CEO, Romain Poirot-Lellig, acknowledges the debt but insists the company is solvent and plans to pay its creditors.

Reporter Ngozi has the full story—keep an eye out for it today.

I bet you didn’t know your investment assets could do more than sit pretty on your dashboard—they can spot you a loan.

Nigerian fintech Carrot Credit is a digital lending platform that lets retail investors (that’s you, me, and every nonprofessional investor who buys and sells funds/securities for personal accounts) to take out loans using investment assets—like stocks, crypto, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or bonds—as collateral.

How much this platform lets you borrow really depends on your portfolio. Stocks can get you up to 40% of its value, while more stable assets like government bonds and treasury bills can unlock as much as 70% of its value. Assets like crypto? 10% Let’s just say the more volatile your portfolio is, the less you can get from it. You don’t have to sell any of your assets to get a loan—Carrot Credit just places a hold on it until you repay. Cool, right?

Here’s what’s cooler: They just secured $4.2 million in seed funding to scale across Africa.

In a funding round led by MaC Venture Capital, with participation from Authentic Ventures, Carrot Credit plans to take Africa by the storm, expand its team, and strengthen connections with digital investment platforms. 

Carrot Credit claims to play a different game: Unlike other digital lenders in Nigeria, including Sycamore, Carbon, Aella, FairMoney, which focus on short-term credit, this platform bets on its portfolio-backed credit with flexible repayment and lower interest rates.

This lending model isn’t entirely new. BlockFi, Quick Lend, Lantern Finance, and SALT have walked this path abroad. However, this model is in its early days for Africa.

Can they make it work? This lending model is clever—borrowing against what you already own. Clever doesn’t always mean familiar. African retail investing is still growing; many people are just warming up to digital investments. Will this catch on? This infrastructure is here for everyday investors to leverage, but like most things in finance, adoption won't come down to what’s possible. It'll come down to what people believe is worth trying.

Mohamed Chaudry has resigned from his role as CFO and co-COO of Vendease, the YC-backed food procurement startup that supplies restaurants across Africa. His departure follows months of deep restructuring: two rounds of layoffs that cut 180 jobs, an exit from Ghana, and a restructuring of employee pay.

The changes at Vendease show that the company is aiming for cost-efficiency. 2024 was a tough year for e-commerce businesses after currency devaluation and runaway inflation threatened margins. Well-backed startups, including Jumia, have been forced to cut back on their multiple market operations and protect cash. Vendease, once scaling fast across West Africa, is now focused on staying lean and, crucially, profitable.

Under Chaudry’s watch, the company rewired its business model—cutting back on warehousing and logistics to focus on software tools like payments, sales management, and its buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) credit product. The BNPL service, now charging daily interest, has issued $70 million in loans at a reported low default rate of 1%.

The company is also seeking fresh capital to extend its Series A, though investor appetite in Nigeria has thinned. Local startups, especially those without FX income, are also struggling to raise capital in this environment.

Chaudry, who joined Vendease in January 2024 to help scale its operations, now runs his own endeavour, “The Scale Up CFO Hub”, a platform helping founders become investor-ready.

This week, Egyptian investment platform Thndr secured $15.7m in a fresh funding round led by Prosus Ventures. Investors, including BECO Capital, Y Combinator, Abdul Latif Jameel, and Onsi Sawiris, also participated. (May 19). 

Here are other deals for the week:

• South African emergency response startup AURA raised $15.1m in a Series B funding round. The round was co-led by the Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund (CAIF) and Partech. (May 16)
• Egyptian used-car marketplace Sylndr secured $15.7m in Series A funding. The round was led by DPI Venture Capital via the Nclude Fund, with backing from a mix of local and international names including Algebra Ventures, Nuwa Capital, Raed Ventures, and Beltone Venture Capital. (May 21)

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. Before you go, how can Nigeria compete in the emerging AI economy? Our latest policy brief, Building AI Literacy: Preparing Nigeria’s Future Workforce Through Education Policy, presents practical steps to transform education and prepare tomorrow's workforce today. Download it here.