On Tuesday, November 20, 2018, Kenyan logistics start-up Sendy said it was preparing a second fundraising round as it looked to expand its delivery platform across East Africa.
The company, which connects delivery drivers with customers through an app, said it had already attracted about 4,000 businesses and 50,000 individuals. Sendy was founded four years earlier and had raised $3 million by the time of the report.
Chief operating officer Malaika Judd told Reuters the company expected to launch a Series B round before the end of the year, but she did not disclose a target amount. She said Sendy wanted to grow beyond a small family logistics business and become a technology platform capable of solving logistics problems globally.
Sendy has modelled itself on logistics platforms such as Indonesia’s Go-jek. Its investors include Safaricom, Toyota East Africa and Dutch investor DOB Equity.
Judd said interest from local and foreign investors was being driven by Sendy’s role in helping retail and fast-moving consumer goods firms move goods in a region where poor roads and traffic remain major obstacles. She added that the rise of e-commerce would increase demand for services such as those offered by Sendy.
Toyota said its use of Sendy had improved efficiency. Dennis Awori, chairman of Toyota in East Africa, said delivery costs for spare parts and customer orders had fallen by as much as 35 percent.
Sendy, which has four founders, employed 60 people at the time, with half of them working in engineering. Judd said the most realistic exit for the business would be an acquisition by a larger logistics company seeking to modernise its operations. “If we cash out in five years I will be very happy,” she said.
