MarketForce, a Kenyan B2B e-commerce platform to help independent corner shops source goods, once had an ambitious plan to grow the number of users on its platform to a million by the end of 2022, with a network effect bringing millions more in the years to come.
Tesh Mbaabu, MarketForce’s CEO and co-founder, laid these plans out to TechCrunch after the startup closed a fresh $40 million debt-equity in Series A funding in February 2022. The round was led by V8 Capital Partners, a London and Lagos-based African-focused investment vehicle with participation from Ten13 VC, SOSV Select Fund, VU Venture Partners, Vastly Valuable Ventures and Uncovered Fund. Existing investors Reflect Ventures, Greenhouse Capital, Century Oak Capital and Remapped Ventures took part in the round too.
But just months later, MarketForce’s plans were thrown in disarray after certain VCs that had committed funds in the round backed out of the deal. Of the $20 million in equity, $8 million was never wired “due to…
