https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/24/in-the-wake-of-dashs-closure-due-to-fraud-5-investors-talk-due-diligence-in-africa/

It’s been a tough year for tech startups globally. These struggles have manifested in layoffs, down rounds and complete shutdowns caused by current market conditions, utter mismanagement or fraud.

This August, SoftBank sued one of its portfolio companies, IRL, a social media platform poised to become an event organizing alternative for Gen Zs, for fraud. Earlier this summer, an internal investigation by IRL’s board of directors found that 95% of the app’s 20 million monthly users were fake (primarily bots). The company’s CEO, Abraham Shafi, was suspended in April and IRL became defunct a month later. At the time, IRL had raised several rounds, including a $170 million Series C led by SoftBank in 2021 at a $1.1 billion valuation.