Exclusive: Chaka founder Tosin Osibodu exits company after Rise merger

Tosin Osibodu, the founder of Chaka, a Nigerian startup that allows retail investors to buy shares from the NYSE and other foreign stock exchanges, has left the business five months after Rise acquired the company. Per his LinkedIn page, Osibodu has joined Alpaca, a company that develops APIs for trading stocks and crypto.

Eke Urum, the founder of Rise, is the sole CEO of the recently merged companies.

“[Urum] has integrated to build a sum greater than its parts. I’m really excited about the future roadmap of both entities under his leadership,” Osibodu said in a LinkedIn post.

Urum, who introduced himself to Chaka users as the new CEO a few weeks ago, told TechCabal that Osibodu is still a shareholder in the company and will continue in an advisory role.

“Before he transitioned to Alpaca, we went through a process during which he gradually handed over the day-to-day decision-making of Chaka to me,” Urum told TechCabal. Urum says he is also well supported by former employees of Chaka. “One of them is primarily driving operations with me.”

Both founders previously told TechCabal that while Chaka’s ownership and cap table will be updated, its products will remain separate. Osibodu’s departure raises questions regarding whether Chaka and RiseVest will continue to remain separate products or merge.

Chaka was founded in 2019 to allow users to buy shares of publicly traded companies in Nigeria and the United States for as little as $2. It became the first trading startup to receive a digital sub-broker licence in March 2021.

As Executive Director of Sales for Alpaca, Tosin Osibodu will be working to deepen Alpaca’s footprint in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The firm currently powers over 130+ investing services for neobanks and wealthtechs. “We are hoping that a three-way partnership [with Rise, Chaka, and Alpaca] will come out of this new working relationship,” Urum told TechCabal.