After six months of litigation, Kenyan fintech company Pezesha and B2B eCommerce platform MarketForce arrived at an out-of-court settlement. MarketForce will use its own intangible assets, which have been given a monetary value by Pezesha, to clear the debt.
This resolution follows a liquidation petition filed by Pezesha against MarketForce due to “outstanding debts”. This happened merely two years after both companies had merged efforts to enhance customer inventory and distribution. Pezesha’s petition claimed MarketForce was indebted to them by a substantial amount and had the intent to procure these unsettled debts legally.
Four months after the commencement of the legal dispute, the two companies reportedly settled it. They agreed to meet during the Harambeans Global Summit in Maasai Mara in March 2024, where Hilda Moraa, the founder of Pezesha, and Tesh Mbaabu, MarketForce’s CEO, hashed out their differences and ultimately decided to reconcile them.
Before the legal contention occurred, Pezesha offered merchant loans to retailers on MarketForce’s platform and later extended its services to include a funding facility for working capital. When MarketForce began to encounter funding issues, they found it increasingly challenging to fulfill their debt responsibilities, which stirred up strife between them and Pezesha.
Pezesha resorted to filing a liquidation lawsuit against MarketForce on September 25, 2023, to remedy this situation of unpaid debts, as MarketForce was evidently unable to meet its financial commitments.
Anticipation is also building for a potential legal clash between the two firms, largely due to MarketForce’s funding struggles and market complications, as well as pressure faced by Pezesha from its investors and board members.
CEO of MarketForce, Tesh Mbaabu, expressed his regret at how circumstances unfolded, admitting that his company had “underestimated the challenges of scaling and could have communicated better with Pezesha during our funding setbacks.”
He maintained that the ordeal has taught them the value of resilience and adaptability in navigating challenges and asserted the company’s commitment to promoting cooperation and trust in the future.
Meanwhile, Pezesha’s founder, Hilda Moraa, reflected that both companies could have approached the situation in a more diplomatic manner and looked for alternative solutions before heading to court. She noted, “This episode has taught us the value of open communication and the need to prioritise relationships over disputes.”
In other news, Pezesha recently secured a $500,000 grant from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). This funding will permit the fintech startup to utilize data science, machine learning, and other sophisticated technologies to refine its lending abilities. It will also aid to advance its long-term lending practices towards small enterprises in sub-Saharan Africa.
