Once a rising star in African logistics, Sendy Kenya faced a sudden fall that left the African tech startup market in shock.

We’re digging deep into the collapse of this logistics startup that ascended high in Africa’s tech scene before crashing hard.

This is a story of big dreams, tough realities, and lessons we can all learn from.

Here’s how it went down.

The Rise of Sendy Kenya

Sendy was a Kenyan tech startup founded in 2014 by four entrepreneurs:
Mesh Alloys, Evanson Biwott, Don Okoth, and Malaika Judd.

Surveying Kenya’s chaotic logistics landscape, the ambitious partners saw a glaring opportunity.

Moving goods from point A to point B was a daily headache for enterprises.
The process was slow and costly.

At the same time, players in the delivery service sector were often unreliable, and the quality of their services fell below market needs.

To Alloys and his team, these weren’t just problems. This was an opportunity to leverage a technology.

And so their solution was to create a tech-powered platform that allows merchants to connect with a ready fleet of drivers with just a few taps.

Think of a platform like Uber, but specifically for delivery services.

Such an idea was bold. Its timing felt perfect. And the team was fired up and ready to build something big.

So, on 1st April 2014, Sendy Kenya was formed with Mesh Alloys as the CEO.

The choice of Alloys for the position was by no accident. Before Sendy was born, he was selling kerosene across the Tanzania–Kenya border.

From his business, Alloys had gained the skills of a keen entrepreneur with a talent for spotting opportunities; his experiences were a perfect match for the pending success of Sendy.

Of course, the company had a well-thought-out model. First, it would not need to buy vehicles, motorbikes, or TukTuks.

Sendy would contract drivers and riders who had their wheels. The company would then use its logistics platform, proudly branded as the Sendy App, to coordinate operations.

With this strategy, Sendy Kenya would ensure the operation costs remain low while the team is better positioned for high scalability.  

Second, the model was all about partnerships. Sendy teamed up with retailers, manufacturers, e-commerce stores, and distributors, as well as global brands.  It would make money from handling delivery and fulfillment for its partners.

And to differentiate itself, Sendy would not do it the traditional way.  Its method would be fast, smooth, and powered by a user-friendly technology.

In short, the founders’ vision was a brave one: To streamline logistics across Africa by making deliveries easy and instant. The market embraced the idea.

And so, by September 2014, just four months after its launch, Sendy had over 8,000 customers.

With 27 riders and big names like Unilever, DHL, Maersk, and Jumia on board,
Sendy was handling a thousand deliveries per month via its Sendy App.

Put briefly, the business was booming. Their first-year revenue hit 45,000 US dollars.

For a start-up in a tough market, that was a big breakthrough, an indication of a promising future for Sendy.

And encouraged by this exceptional performance, Sendy was ready to go global and introduce a new portfolio of services.

In 2015, Safaricom backed up the company’s vision with a figure that was undisclosed to external parties.

Sources say the amount was delivered to Sendy via Safaricom’s Spark Fund.

In July 2016, Sendy launched an online taxi service in Nairobi. It proudly calls it Sendy Ride.

By this newly introduced service, Sendy was well prepared to win in Kenya’s online taxi service market.

Sendy Ride would compete with established brands like Little Cab and Mondo Ride.

A few months passed by, and Sendy rolled out yet another service, Sendy Supply. This was a service designed to let retailers buy fast-moving consumer goods directly from manufacturers.

Within the same month, the team introduced Sendy Fulfilment, a service that provides end-to-end logistics solutions for businesses. Sendy Fulfilment primarily focuses on e-commerce warehousing and distribution.

In brief, Sendy wasn’t just moving fast— it was zooming past the pack.

And investors watching the pace with curiosity, Sendy was on the verge of attracting millions of dollars in funding.

And as surely as it was meant to happen, in 2018, the company raised 3 million US dollars in a Series A round.

By January 2020, they secured a massive 20 million dollars in Series B.
This round of funding was led by Atlantica Ventures and Toyota Tsusho Corporation.

By 2021, Sendy had expanded beyond Kenya. Its new branches were operational in Tanzania and Uganda. It boasted over 5,000 vehicles on its platform. At least 250 top talents were on board.

At the height of its success, the startup wasn’t just delivering packages— it was delivering on a dream.

In no time, it had climbed to a staggering valuation of over 80 million US dollars.

With its sights already set far beyond Kenya, the team continued charting bold new frontiers.

It looked forward to entering Egypt, Ghana, South Africa, and even Nigeria.
The company’s financial growth was so fast that global expansion wasn’t a question of if,
but when.

And to fuel this rocket ship, Sendy went on a mission to raise 100 million dollars in 2021. The rising star was pitching a grand vision; to attract investors who, at the time, believed they were backing the next tech titan of the black continent.

Sendy’s hype was real. Its vision-oriented team was poised to live the dream.

Altogether, the company secured more than $27 million in funding over six rounds:

• 2015: Undisclosed amount from Safaricom’s Spark Fund.
• Early 2018: $2 million Series A, led by DOB Equity and CFAO Automotive.
• Late 2018: $3 million Series A extension, led by Goodwell Investments.
• October 2019: $2 million, led by Goodwell Investments.
• January 2020: $20 million Series B, led by Atlantica Ventures and Toyota Tsusho Corporation.
• November 2022: Undisclosed amount from MOL PLUS.

But as millions poured in and markets opened wide, Sendy stood at a crossroads many startups face: scale or stability, speed or strategy. Was the same bold ambition that launched its rise also secretly planting the seeds of its fall?

The next chapter would test everything.

The Crisis

We’re in mid-2022. The past 2 years were rough for Sendy as COVID-19 ravaged organizations across industries.

From the outside, Sendy still shone like a star. But inside, something wasn’t right. Only insiders could sense it. But that was until the cracks became impossible to ignore.

Here is what the storm looked like for Sendy.

Globally, economies were tightening. ‎Inflation soared. Borrowing rates went up.

‎In Kenya, startups were under pressure. And across Africa, the venture capital taps ran dry. Sendy’s model and its team, as well as the dream around which it was built, were on trial.

In July 2022, the company announced a 10% workforce cut, citing  “current realities impacting tech companies globally.”

Then, October of the same year came with a double blow.

First, the firm’s Sendy Supply shut down. Secondly, another 20% of Sendy’s 270 staff, in particular, 54 people, were on termination notice.

With a key service portfolio shut down and 30% of the workforce headed home, Sendy’s new direction was clear.  The startup was no longer pursuing a dream. It was speedily transitioning to a survival mode.

The external environment was growing harsher.  Rising fuel prices crushed margins.

Before Sendy could adjust any further, Kenya’s 2022 elections sparked uncertainty. Consumer demand reduced, slashing order volumes.

Alloys and his team tried to re-pivot the company with two strategic moves.

First, focusing on Sendy Fulfilment, and secondly, abandoning the Nigerian market. Bad, if not worse, none of these impactful decisions turned out positively.

Then, late 2022, a funding deal with MOL PLUS finally went through. Sendy felt lucky. The team celebrated.

However, as things would later turn out to be, the celebration was short-lived.

The new investment was not enough to turn things around. But the real challenge came in 2023. It was about keeping up with expenses.

Unknown to outsiders, including investors, Sendy had been burning through cash unsustainably. According to estimates, the company was running at 1 million US dollars in monthly operational costs.

Desperate and cornered by deep trouble, Sendy tried raising new capital at a lower 40–60 million US dollar valuation. But a key investor pulled out.

With zero financial backup, Sendy couldn’t pay salaries for 2-3 months.

So, what was Sendy to do?

There was only one option left — to quit.

By late 2023, Sendy was scrambling to find a buyer. In August that year, CEO Mesh Alloys had told TechCrunch that acquisition talks were underway.

True to his words, Sendy held talks with African B2B startups. But discussions with the likes of Trella, Sabi, and Wasoko bore no fruit.

By mid-September, it was clear — no savior was coming. Maybe, or perhaps obviously, misfortunes have led Sendy to a dead end. Only death was pending.

‎On the 20th September 2023, Sendy officially entered administration.

The event sent shockwaves across Africa’s startup ecosystem. News headlines had it that ‎PKF Consulting had taken over Sendy with two options: either to restructure or liquidate the business.

‎Sendy, once a beacon of Kenya’s tech scene, was on its knees to finally join many of its kind in the graveyard.

Analysis

So, what went wrong with Sendy? What happened to its ambitious vision?

Let’s break it down.

1. Fuel Prices Crushed Margins

Sendy’s model depended on freelance drivers using their own vehicles.

It was a smart model: light on assets, flexible, and scalable.

But in 2022, global fuel prices suddenly increased exponentially.

For contract drivers, that meant higher costs. For Sendy, it meant shrinking profits.

Delivery fees didn’t rise fast enough to keep up.

The result? An efficient system turned into a money-losing operation.

2. Failure to Stick to Initial Rules

To survive, Sendy made a bold move in Nigeria.

They switched to an asset-heavy model: buying and owning trucks.

But this was a costly switch.

Managing a fleet meant the following: higher capital requirements, complex logistics, and less flexibility.

In a tough market, this change added pressure instead of solving problems.

3. Sendy Expanded Too Fast, Too Wide

At one point, Sendy was everywhere—Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria.

The mistake wasn’t just about their unchecked geographic diversification.

They launched several products at once: Sendy Supply, Sendy Fulfillment, and even Sendy Ride.

For effective and profitable implementation, each idea needed its own team, its own strategy, and its own money.

No wonder some never took off.

Take Sendy Ride, for example—it died just two months after launch.

The company was clearly spreading itself thin.

4. The Funding Window Slammed Shut

From 2017 to 2021, VC money flowed like a river.

Sendy rode that wave.

But in 2022, global interest rates rose and investors became cautious.

Sendy hoped to raise 100 million US dollars.

However, they got only a fraction of that, mostly from MOL PLUS.

With a burn rate of 1 million US dollars per month, their cash runway vanished fast.

And by the time this became a reality to Alloys and the team, they had simply run out of time.

5. Product-Market Fit Wasn’t Locked In

Sendy’s idea looked perfect on paper.

But on the ground, it clashed with reality.

The African digital logistics market is growing, but was even younger then.

In Kenya, for example, Sendy should have understood some key facts about the market.

First, most people preferred face-to-face to virtual transactions.

Secondly, businesses weren’t fully ready for digital logistics—adoption was slow.

Thus, even with great tech, Sendy couldn’t force the market to mature faster than it naturally could.

What’s your take?

So what would you say really sank Sendy?

Was it rising fuel costs, a bad pivot, wrong timing, an over-ambitious team, too many products, or all of them stacked together?

They say even the smartest startups can’t survive if the market isn’t ready.

Is Sendy’s short-lived success proof of this point?