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(CNN) — Fahim Salem, founder and CEO of the Gokada firm, died of multiple stab wounds, the New York City medical examiner said Thursday.
Saleh, 33, was found dead in his Manhattan Lower East Side apartment earlier this week with his body dismembered, a police source told CNN.
An autopsy by the city’s Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Thursday that Saleh died as a result of stab wounds to the neck and torso and that it was a homicide, a spokesperson told CNN.
Authorities are still investigating Saleh’s death. He was last seen on surveillance video entering an elevator in his apartment building and a man dressed in black, believed by police to be Saleh’s assailant, entered the elevator with him, according to the official.
The elevator in Saleh’s building goes directly to the apartment units there, the source said.
Saleh was the founder and CEO of Gokada, a motorcycle transport app in Nigeria. His family described him as a “brilliant and innovative mind” in a statement confirming his death.
“The headlines speak of a crime that we still cannot understand,” the statement said. Fahim is more than you have read. Is much more. His brilliant and innovative mind took everyone in his world on a journey and made sure to never leave anyone behind.
“There are no words or actions that give us comfort, except the capture of the person who only showed evil against our loved one.”
As a high school student, Saleh founded PrankDial.com, a website for pre-recorded prank phone calls that he designed in 2018 and had generated more than $ 10 million since its inception. He continued to build and sell sites throughout his teens and his time at Bentley University.
Recently, he founded the venture capital firm Adventure Capital, which invested in start-ups of ride-sharing companies in countries like Bangladesh and Colombia.
On Medium, where he blogged regularly, he said that his founding of Gokada was “one of the most important things he had ever done.” His limited knowledge of the Nigerian transportation system at first alienated the Nigerians he tried to recruit for his start-up.
In 2019, Gokada raised $ 5.3 million in seed funding and hired more than 800 drivers, but Gokada’s business hit an unexpected downside in February when the state of Lagos banned commercial motorcycles in the city.
Saleh filmed a petition on behalf of his employees to lift the ban as the company turned into the home delivery business and was working to launch a boat transportation service, he told CNN in February.
CNN’s Mark Morales and Scottie Andrew contributed to this report.
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