Sendy has been around for some time. Back in 2015, the company received a notable push in its operations after it became a beneficiary of Safaricom’s Spark Venture Fund. Having stared as an app that connects motorcycle riders, van and pickup drivers to clients within Nairobi, the start-up has since seen significant growth.
It has been reported that the company is expanding its turf to the East African region by the end of 2018 after concentrating on local operations for the past four years. According to the Business Daily, the firm managed to stay afloat with good returns that will see them venture into the said market.
Outside Nairobi, Sendy is live in Kisumu, Mombasa and Eldoret. A plan to launch in other Kenyan towns is imminent as well. Its operations serve about 50,000 customers and a healthy 4000 businesses.
The firm also received a sum of $2 million in equity investment from DOB Equity, a Dutch impact fund and CFAO Group that operates globally. Part of this investment will be used in the aforementioned expansion programs that will oversee additional delivery vehicles to cover more mileage.
It is worth noting that Sendy’s operations are not explicitly stated. This is can be traced the Communication Authority of Kenya’s notice to revoke Sendy’s International Courier Operator License. The details about the gazetted notice were not given. However, Sendy clarified later that it had made the request to cancel the license because it considered itself a technology company and not a logistics entity.
Another perspective for this argument can be related to how e-taxi apps operate; they are not transport solutions per se, but a platform that links riders to drivers. In this case, Sendy focuses on goods instead of people.
Nonetheless, it seems that the organization’s operations and returns are substantial to guarantee investments from global firms, which is coupled by Safaricom’s unknown stake.
