Kenya-based Lami’s planned acquisition of Bluewave fails

Kenyan insurtech Lami Technologies had announced the acquisition of Bluewave in February last year, aiming to expand its product offerings and scale into new markets in Africa. However, it has now been revealed that the deal fell through a few months later.

As reported by TechCrunch, at the time Lami publicly disclosed the acquisition, only a two-year "strategic partnership agreement" was in place. Bluewave founder Adelaide Odhiambo shared that the groundwork had been laid for an acquisition once Lami's fundraising campaign, which was gaining momentum around the same time, was successfully closed. Lami eventually raised a $3.7 million seed extension led by Harlem Capital.

Odhiambo, who joined Lami as head of partnerships, alleges that the terms of the deal, including the acquisition cost, began to change, leading her to step away from the agreement in August of the same year. In the meantime, Bluewave had licensed its technology to Lami and onboarded partners and employees based on the terms of the initial agreement. Lami declined to provide comments on the situation.