Janet Mbugua's husband, Eddie Ndichu and his twin brother, Paul Ndichu, have lost a multi-million investment in their company, Wapi Pay, after one of its investors pulled out.
One of the General Partners of Kepple Africa Ventures,Takahiro Kanzaki, took to Twitter on Tuesday, October 19, to announce that their company did not tolerate gender based violence.
Kanzaki addressed a video doing rounds on social media of the twin brothers allegedly engaging in a scuffle with unidentified individuals.
"In light of the alleged assault on women by the founders of our portfolio company Wapi Pay, we Kepple Africa Ventures hereby announce that we have zero tolerance on such conduct and announce that we will relinquish all the rights of our investment stake in Wapi Pay," he stated.
Wapi Pay had received approximately Ksh220 Million as pre-seed funding from various investors among them Kepple Africa Ventures, EchoVC, China-based fund MSA Capital, Future Hub, Gobi Ventures and Transsion Holding.
Eddie Ndichu, through a statement, denied the assault allegations, affirming that they were de-escalating the situation after two women they had met at the hotel got into a physical confrontation.
"Our understanding is that the allegations and video currently being shared on social media, albeit horrific and regrettable, do not depict the true events that transpired that night," the statement read in part.
"To be clear, Paul and Eddie got involved in an attempt to neutralize a confrontation between two women and to defend themselves from certain aggressors. The matter has been reported to the police and DCI for further investigation and resolution. Pending this, we request restraint be exercised in potentially and unfairly spreading misinformation that has no factual basis."
This comes after Inspector General of Police, Hillary Mutyambai, had directed that the incident should be reported to the nearest police station during his EngagetheIG forum.
Janet Mbugua also condemned gender-based violence after the assault video circulated online.
"I am saddened by increasing incidents of Gender-Based Violence. Over the last decade, I have joined my voice in efforts to end Gender-Based Violence. I condemn all forms of GBV irrespective of who is involved and will continue to speak out against it. We have laws in Kenya and justice must prevail," she stated.
