Sendy, the Kenyan logistics startup has raised $20 million (Kshs 2 billion) in a round with global backers.
The company raised the Series B round led by Atlantica Ventures and Toyota Tsusho Corproration which is Toyota’s investment arm.
The company aims to use their Series B funding for new hires and to upgrade its tech. “Getting better operational efficiency is super key so we’ll invest in engineering teams and data teams and deploying talent to improve the services that we give to our customers,” Mesh Alloys, Sendy’s CEO told TechCrunch.
The seed round also includes a research and development arrangement with Toyota Tsusho Corporation via their venture arm Mobility 54. Mobility 54’s mandate is to “invest in startups with innovative mobility services and technology in Africa and support their business expansion” and has a €1 million (Kshs 110 million) capital at its base.
Sendy was founded in 2015 and now has offices in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The company also told the publication that they have plans to expand to West Africa. They have 5000 vehicles on their platform that move all sorts of goods. Their logistics business has handled business with huge companies in Kenya like Safaricom, Unilever Bidco, Crown beverages and more.
Africa has seen quite a lot of funding from venture capitalists in recent times. Last year, $1.3 billion was invested in African tech companies which is over 6 times more than the figure in 2015. Most of this money ($679 million) was spent on the fintech sector. Nigeria and Kenya got the joint majority of the funding (81.5%) and Egypt recorded strong growth thanks to the likes of SWVL.
