Zarttech

Talent outsourcing

Epitaph

“Here lies Zarttech. It connected African tech talent with global companies and promised to close Europe's hiring gap. Then its own payroll developed a critical outage. The apology shipped, but the missing salaries never made production.”

Overview

Born: 2020 (Year)
Died: March 2026 (Month)
Lifespan: 6 years
Fate: Shut down
Headquarters: 🇳🇬 Nigeria
Category: HR & Talent
Stage at death: Seed
Primary cause: Governance or fraud
Contributing causes: Funding or runway, Founder or team, Execution

Death certificate

Timeline

2020Founded
company launches as Zwarttech, later rebranding to Zarttech, connecting African tech talent with global/European firms
2025Severe underpayment
employees receive only about 5-7% of monthly salaries through early-to-mid 2025
2025Non-operational
company effectively stops operating by late 2025
February 2025Salary failures begin
staff salary payments start being missed, including unpaid December 2024 wages
March 2026Shutdown announced
Zarttech formally ends operations and issues a public apology to staff and partners on March 25, 2026

Autopsy report

Why did Zarttech shut down?

Zarttech, a Netherlands-headquartered venture that placed African tech talent with global firms, formally ended operations on March 25, 2026 after a prolonged liquidity crisis in which staff went unpaid for months, and founder Nelson Ajulo issued a public apology to employees and partners. [graveyard-sheet-seed]

What Zarttech attempted

A Netherlands-headquartered scale-up placing vetted African tech talent with global companies, aiming to close a roughly 500,000-person tech talent gap in Europe and reduce hiring bias against African developers; originally launched as Zwarttech before rebranding to Zarttech.

What worked

Unknown (no specific traction/revenue figures found in sourced coverage); the company was described in press coverage as having a strong social mission and public profile before its collapse.

Early warning signs

Salary payment failures began around February 2025 (with December 2024 wages left unpaid); through early-to-mid 2025 employees reportedly received only 5-7% of monthly salaries; resources were diverted to affiliated ventures (Joble, an AI productivity platform, and MyHives/Hive, a community fintech platform) while core staff went unpaid; the company became largely non-operational by late 2025.

What happened

Beginning around February 2025, Zarttech repeatedly missed staff salary payments, including unpaid December 2024 wages, with employees receiving only a fraction (5-7%) of pay through much of 2025 despite repeated promises to catch up. Resources were reportedly diverted to affiliated ventures (Joble and MyHives/Hive) while core operations were starved of cash. The company became non-operational by late 2025 and formally announced the end of operations on March 25, 2026, with founder Nelson Ajulo issuing a public apology to staff and partners.

Lessons for future builders

People-heavy outsourcing businesses must align payroll and hiring with contracted demand and cash collection. When liquidity tightens, communicate early rather than letting employees absorb the financing gap.