Lipa Later acquires troubled e-commerce startup Sky Garden

Kenyan tech credit platform Lipa Later is the new owner of troubled e-commerce start-up Sky Garden, which was on the brink of closure following October’s insolvency.

After the start-up failed to close a round of financing in September, the fate of Sky Garden and its reported 46-member staff became unpredictable until CEO and co-founder, Martin Majlund, announced last month that it was not closing after getting an unnamed owner.

On Monday, Lipa Later announced that it had acquired the Danish B2C venture in a move it said will help it re-energise its commitment to bridging the gap between the merchant and a customer with more empowerment between both parties.

“This acquisition of Sky Garden by Lipa Later marks an important milestone in the group’s goal to offer innovative solutions that meet the needs of businesses and consumers. This move will enable Lipa Later to expand our customer base and solidify our presence in the market,” the company said in a statement.

Lipa Later CEO Eric Muli termed the acquisition timely as the fintech continues to build an end-to-end avenue that connects merchants to customers and vice versa.

The Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) service partners with retailers to allow shoppers to pay in instalments and operates in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.

“Guided by our objective to empower African businesses and consumers to do more by enabling e-commerce, financial inclusion and shopping all on one centralized and fully integrated platform, our plan has always been to venture into e-commerce with unique value propositions for our consumers,” Muli said.

“Sky Garden has done an incredible job and checks all those boxes... This acquisition has greatly accelerated our plans of redefining the shopping experience for consumers,” he added.

Sky Garden had raised over Ksh.736 million ($6,000,000) prior to this acquisition and will now be fully owned by Lipa Later Group and will continue to operate using its name.

Under the acquisition, consumers will be able to purchase items from Sky Garden using any preferred payment method, including Lipa Later’s model which provides a payment plan that is flexible and affordable through monthly instalments.

At the same time, employees of the Amazon-style marketplace get to keep their jobs.

“Last month, we saw no other option than to file for insolvency,” Majlund said, “Today, I’m happy to see that Sky Garden will live on with new owners and new management. We built a great product over time, and I believe Lipa Later has the potential to take Sky Garden to the next level. Through this acquisition, the vision of Sky Garden will continue to live on while retaining jobs and businesses on our platform.”

Lipa Later said already, expansion plans are in place to see Sky Garden integrated across other Lipa Later countries of operation, including Rwanda, Uganda, and Nigeria.

Founded in 2017 by Majlund and Christian Grubak, Sky Garden is SaaS (Software as a Service) platform that helps retail stores digitise offline and online sales. It earns an 8 per cent commission for every sale made through its platform.