In October 2022, Weetracker reported the closure of Kloud commerce, the multichannel e-commerce solution, after a series of disputes between the founder, Dr. Olumide ‘D.O’ Olusanya, and the company’s investors. The startup raised $765,000 in pre-seed funding from investors who later claimed that Dr. Olusanya’s misappropriation of funds and questionable decision-making led to the death of the company. Two former company executives also claimed that D.O gave false updates to investors while demotivating employees, ultimately meaning preventing the company from developing its core product. The board of Kloud commerce refuted the allegations, but the composition of the company’s board of directors was not clear at the time.
One of the most important parts of the dispute was the claim that some investors were compiling a petition last year and considering a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). TechCabal can confirm that some investors have petitioned the EFCC in a matter in which Dr. Olusanya is a subject of interest. The specifics of the petition are not yet known at the time of this report and it remains unclear which of Kloud commerce’s investors eventually filed the report.
However, a source close to the situation and with knowledge of the matter said that EFCC operatives visited the Gloopro offices in Lekki on Monday and that Dr. Olusanya was invited to the EFCC office. TechCabal understands that Dr. Olusanya remained in EFCC custody through Monday and sources close to the situation say he was released on Tuesday. What is likely at the core of the petition, as reported by Weetracker last year, is, the allegation “that D.O misappropriated company funds, referencing an account audit that suggests the founder had diverted various sums of money invested into Kloud Commerce for personal ventures, put personal expenses on the company’s accounts, and burned investor money on expensive hotels and car rentals on dodgy trips outside Nigeria.”
Investors with knowledge of the matter declined to comment. In Kloud commerce’s rebuttal of the allegations, they claimed that the root of the dispute was an unhappy SAFE investor who disagreed about the terms of recapitalisation. Those recapitalisation terms were reportedly because Kloud commerce had run out of money, and some investors looked to invest only on the condition that D.O stepped down as CEO. Ultimately, both parties could not reach an agreement, and the business shut down instead. An email to the lawyers who represented Kloud commerce in 2022 was not replied at the time of this report.
*This is a developing story.
*An earlier version of this report stated that Dr. Olusanya was in custody, but we’ve now clarified that he was released on Tuesday
