Sendy
Powering Kenya’s e commerce boom with a digital last mile network that matched business orders to independent drivers.
Kenya’s retail digitization was moving faster than its delivery system. Small businesses were selling online, but last mile logistics stayed slow, costly, and informal.
Sendy did not buy trucks. It built coordination. The company connected merchants to a large pool of drivers and made delivery trackable, priced, and reliable.
One platform served two sides. Businesses got a simple delivery layer. Drivers got steady orders and digital payments.
The bet was that logistics could scale like a network, not like an asset heavy fleet.
Key Numbers
Note: Snapshot reflects peak disclosed scale before administration in 2023.
Company Information
Sendy was a Kenyan logistics technology company that evolved from on demand courier bookings into a full last mile and fulfilment platform for businesses. Its core product was a dispatch and tracking layer that made informal transport usable for formal commerce.
Leadership
| Role | Name | Background |
|---|---|---|
| Founders | Meshack Alloys, Don Okoth, Evanson Biwott, Malaika Judd | Built Sendy from a dispatch app to a business logistics platform |
| CEO | Meshack Alloys | Led growth across East Africa and later West Africa pilots |
How the Model Works
Sendy matched delivery demand from merchants to vetted drivers, then managed routing, tracking, customer support, and payments. The model stayed asset light, with capacity supplied by independent partners.
Business Lines
Growth and Results
Sendy scaled with Kenya’s e commerce and FMCG distribution surge. By 2021 it reported about 10,000 delivery drivers and more than 5,000 vehicles active on the platform.
Pressure points
- Higher burn: fulfilment expansion increased working capital needs.
- Thin margins: last mile pricing faced intense competition.
- Funding winter: new capital slowed between 2022 and 2023.
Where They Operated
The company built depth in East Africa, then tested West Africa through Abidjan and a strategic stake in Kamtar.
| Country | Presence | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kenya | Home market | Main driver density and largest client base |
| Tanzania | Expansion | Urban deliveries and SMEs |
| Uganda | Expansion | Regional fleet operations |
| Côte d’Ivoire | West Africa pilot | Abidjan office opened in 2021 |
Funding History
Sendy raised venture funding mainly to scale the marketplace and later to build fulfilment capability.
Main Backers
Competitive Landscape
Sendy competed with digital peers and a wide informal delivery base. Its edge was enterprise grade tracking on top of informal capacity.
| Company | Model | Markets | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sendy | Marketplace plus fulfilment | East Africa, West Africa pilot | Asset light with strong tracking and SLA focus |
| Lori Systems | Trucking marketplace | Regional | Long haul and freight bias |
| Local boda fleets | Direct hire | City level | No standardized tracking or billing |
Key Lessons for Founders
What builders can take from Sendy’s arc.
- Start asset light. Use existing fleets before buying your own.
- Trust is the moat. Tracking, vetting, and clear SLAs win merchants.
- Fulfilment changes the game. Warehousing needs cash and tight inventory discipline.
- Expansion multiplies risk. New markets need deep local execution.
- Plan for capital cycles. Keep unit economics healthy before scaling fast.
• Series B $20M and lead investors from 2020 coverage.
• Total disclosed funding about $26.5M from later analyses.
• Driver and vehicle scale from 2021 press and company statements.
• Administration and shutdown from 2023 reporting.
Data checked November 24, 2025.