Lipa Later, a Kenyan fintech that allows users to pay now and pay later (BNPL), has been placed in administration as of March 24, 2025. This follows months of financial struggles, and failed fundraising attempts. According to a notice in the gazette seen by TechCabal, Joy Vipinchandra Bhatt of Moore JVB Consulting LLP was appointed administrator.
This latest development caps off a turbulent year at Lipa Later. The company has struggled to find new funding since its last injection of capital – a $3.4 million debt raising in September 2023 – leaving it unable pay employees and suppliers.
The company’s directors lose control over its assets and operations when they enter administration. Instead, the administrator is given the decision-making authority. Creditors must submit claims by April 23, as the future of the company is at stake.
Bhatt said, “We are currently engaging with all key stakeholders to get their cooperation to achieve the best outcome for the business.”
TechCabal was told by at least five employees that they had not been paid for several months in December 2024. Lipa Later owed several suppliers including London-based Africa Foresight Group, which sued the company in December 2024 for an unpaid $13,516 consulting fee. Court documents seen by TechCabal show that Lipa Later owes a number of other companies as well.
Lipa Later, who was contracted to prepare a report on the market in April 2022, refused to pay AFG because it claimed that their work was substandard. The dispute escalated. In a ruling issued in December 2024, Kenya’s High Court rejected Lipa Later’s defence, stating that the company had admitted the debt through internal correspondence.
In his ruling, Justice Mong’are stated that “it is clear to me that, in fact, the amount demanded by the statutory demand was not disputed and the debtor, Lipa Later, is estopped to claim so, having admitted the debt.”
The court also ruled Lipa Later did not meet the legal standard of proving a genuine dispute over the debt.
From financial distress to investor darling
Lipa Later already had a strong investor base. In January 2022, Lipa Later raised $12 million in seed financing from Cauris and Lateral Frontiers. This was accompanied by undisclosed debt. Orbit Startups made seed investments in 2021, and Founders Factory Africa did so in 2019.
Despite early investor optimism, the company failed in 2024 to raise additional funding. Unnamed top executive claimed that the company was very close to securing an agreement in Q4 2024 but it never materialised.
In December 2023, the company’s financial health was scrutinized when it purchased struggling ecommerce platform Sky.Garden ($1.9 million) for KES 250 millions. Lipa Later was already struggling with mounting debts at the time of the deal, which raised concerns about its financial health.
Lipa Later’s future now depends on whether its administrator is able to restructure their operations or find a purchaser willing to take a risk on its BNPL-model.
