E-commerce appears to be catching up in Kenya, but not all players have been successful at it.
That has not stopped them from expanding their reach, and this has been made more obvious today with the launch of a similar business that targets to serve urban dwellers.
Nonetheless, and as you may have been informed a couple of weeks ago, Sky.Garden issued a notice to its workers that they would close shop, meaning it intended to let them go.
The issue was all about money because the funds the firm had could not keep it afloat.
The organization was supposed to be closed by mid-October, but it reported that wouldn’t happen if an investor scooped it from closing shop.
Those prayers were answered following an announcement that the firm had been purchased. At that time, we didn’t know which organization had acquired it, but now, we know.
Lipa Later, the company that allows customers to buy products on credit is Sky.Garden’s new owner. This is a full acquisition, meaning it is now fully owned by Lipa Later.
This implies that the 50 or so Sky.Garden employees will not be let go. The CEO Martin Majlund, however, had already announced that he would not be part of the new Sky.Garden.
“SkyGarden which has raised north of $6,000,000 prior to this acquisition, will now be fully owned by Lipa Later Group and will continue to operate using its name,” says a statement from Lipa Later
Lipa Later adds that it will let SkyGarden run as a standalone entity. However, it will introduce credit for small-scale retailers on SkyGarden platform.
There are also plans to expand Sky.Garden’s services beyond Kenya.
With the acquisition of Sky.Garden, Lipa Later says it is now in a position to provide a comprehensive e-commerce solution to consumers, and with Sky.Garden’s established infrastructure and market presence, consumers will be able to purchase items from Sky.Garden using any preferred payment method including Lipa Later’s buy now, pay later model which provides a payment plan that is flexible and affordable through monthly installments.
Quotes
“Guided by our objective to empower African businesses and consumers to do more by enabling e-commerce, financial inclusion and shopping all on one centralized and fully integrated platform, our plan has always been to venture into e-commerce with unique value propositions for our consumers. SkyGarden has done an incredible job and checks all those boxes. Lipa Later is no stranger to the e-commerce industry, having already established a strong presence in the online payment and finance sectors. This acquisition has greatly accelerated our plans of redefining the shopping experience for consumers,” said Lipa Later CEO Eric Muli.
“Last month, we saw no other option than to file for insolvency,” Martin Majlund, founder of Sky Garden, reiterated. “Today, I’m happy to see that Sky Garden will live on with new owners and new management. We built a great product over time, and I believe Lipa Later has the potential to take Sky Garden to the next level. Through this acquisition, the vision of Sky Garden will continue to live on while retaining jobs and businesses on our platform.”
