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Kenyan On-Demand Delivery Platform Raises $2M From Dutch Impact Investor

Kenyan On-Demand Delivery Platform Raises $2M From Dutch Impact Investor

on-demand delivery platform
Kenyan on-demand delivery platform Sendy has raised a $2 million investment from Dutch impact investor Goodwell Investments. Sendy drivers waiting to deliver packages in Nairobi. Image: Sendy

Kenyan on-demand delivery platform Sendy has raised a new round of funding, bringing its total investment to $7.5 million as it plans to expand in East Africa.

The Nairobi-based startup received a $2 million investment from Dutch impact investor Goodwell Investments, according to a press statement.

Sendy connects businesses and people to third-party delivery drivers through its on-demand mobile platform which operates in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

Just like Uber connects people who need a ride with drivers in the area, Sendy’s platform connects people or businesses that need to have something delivered to a driver or rider who can make the delivery.

Users are given options based on their preference and budget, with Sendy offering the ability to have the item or items delivered via motorcycle, car or truck.

Sendy makes its money through commission charged to the third-party driver on each delivery. In 2018, the company made $1.5 million in revenue, Ventures Africa reports.

Sendy was founded in 2015 by Meshack Alloys, Malaika Judd, Evanson Biwott and Don Okoth.

Sendy co-founders Don Okoth (left) and Meshack Alloys (right).
https://twitter.com/InnCreator/status/1152195676069126144
Sendy co-founder Malaika Judd.
Sendy co-founder Evanson Biwott (third from the left on stage).

The Kenyan startup has raised $7.5 million since it was launched, according to Crunchbase.

Goodwell Investments is an investment firm focused on financial inclusion, fintech and inclusive growth in sectors providing basic goods and services to underserved communities.

Kenyan on-demand delivery platform set for expansion

While it already operates in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, Sendy expects to use the new funding to expand into other parts of East Africa, though it did not specify which countries it intends to target.

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Sendy claims to have 700 drivers on its platform, completing more than 180,000 deliveries in the last three years, according to Goodwell Investments.

All four of Sendy’s original co-founders have remained with the company.

Sendy CEO Alloys is a software developer and serial entrepreneur. In 2013 he founded On Demand Mobile, a Nairobi-based software consultancy firm.

Alloys also co-founded software development company MTL Systems alongside fellow Sendy co-founder Okoth in 2011. They both left Nairobi-based MTL Systems at the end of 2013.

Okoth is Sendy’s country manager for freight in Kenya. He has a degree in economics from Makerere University in Kampala.

Judd, who has a degree in international relations and economics from the University of Pennsylvania, is Sendy’s chief financial officer. She has spent time studying and working in the U.S., the U.K., France, Holland and Kenya.

Judd managed and mentored early-stage startups for the Savannah Fund, a Nairobi-based seed capital fund, before co-founding Sendy.

Biwott is a software developer educated at Kenyatta University. Okoth and Alloys met Biwott at MTL Systems. Biwott is the head of engineering at Sendy.