katapult
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The Ohio Firm That Bought a 1,200-Store Retailer to Feed Its Algorithms
Most investment firms buy a stake and hope. IQVentures buys the whole company, plugs in its own payment rails and risk models, and runs it - a bet that grew into a $504 million take-private of a national retailer.
Chinedu Eleanya
Chinedu Eleanya is the founder and CEO of Mulberry, a New York based product protection platform that lets online retailers and direct-to-consumer brands offer affordable extended warranties at checkout. Born in Nigeria and raised in New Jersey after his father won a US visa lottery, he started a used-laptop export business from his Cornell dorm, co-founded the lease-to-own company Katapult in 2011, and launched Mulberry in 2018. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, he has raised more than $37 million to build a consumer-first alternative to the legacy warranty industry.