Sendy, a Kenyan logistics firm, has cut off 10% of its 300 staff, according to a company statement. This is the latest public layoff announcement from Africa in the last two months, following the downsizing of Swvl, Vezeeta, and Wave teams to cut expenses amid a series of worldwide downturns and venture capital downturn events.
Sendy made this move in June, according to CEO Mesh Alloys, in reaction to “present realities affecting Internet-based companies internationally.” He also revealed that the corporation decreased its employees in July, “which affected 10% of our workforce.”
Sendy was formed in 2015 by Alloys, Kenyans Evanson Biwott and Don Okoth, and American Malaika Judd. By 2020, the startup’s platform included over 5,000 cars transporting various types of goods.
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Sendy provides e-commerce, business, and freight delivery services to clients such as Unilever, DHL, Maersk, Safaricom, and the African online retailer Jumia. The business operates on an asset-free approach, with an app that manages hired drivers who own their own vehicles, while also confirming deliveries, producing performance metrics, and managing payment. Some of its competitors include Goldman Sachs-backed Kobo360 and China-backed Lori Systems.
Co-founder Malaika Judd told Bloomberg in 2021 that the Kenyan startup, which facilitates door-to-door delivery between individuals and businesses, was hoping to raise $100 million this year to fuel its development ambitions in West and Southern Africa, mainly Nigeria.
However, as per Crunchbase data, this money has yet to be raised. The logistics startup has raised more than $26 million in funding, including a $20 million Series B round in 2020 from Atlantica Ventures and Toyota Tsusho Corporation, a commercial and investment subsidiary of Toyota. Some of its expansion plans were also shelved.
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Sendy, which operates in Nigeria, Kenya, Ivory Coast, and Uganda, is rumoured to be scaling back its operations in Egypt and South Africa.
The rest of the statement on layoffs reads as follows:
“This change was made in accordance with all applicable laws and industry best practises. All contractual and employment termination benefits were provided to all impacted employees. As a corporation, our greatest asset has always been our team. We have always appreciated their various abilities as well as, more importantly, their well-being. Decisions affecting them are not made carelessly. In keeping with our aim to empower people and businesses by facilitating commerce, we will continue to focus on developing solutions for businesses across the continent.”
Sendy workforce Sendy workforce
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh