Business – eCommerce marketplace Zumi is considering shutting down shop in Kenya as the Chief Executive Officer William McCarren reflects on what next.
Zumi, a Kenyan B2B e-commerce marketplace connecting retailers of non-food products to suppliers has been struggling to raise sufficient funding for now some time.
The news was announced by CEO and co-founder McCarren in a LinkedIn post earlier this week.
“The current macro environment has made fundraising extremely difficult, and unfortunately, our business was not able to achieve sustainability in time to survive.
“Building businesses in emerging markets requires a special blend of ambition, grit, and craziness, and I’m incredibly grateful for the experience,” the CEO admitted, without directly revealing why they chose to wind down the business.
The CEO said that the company had achieved more than $20M in sales, and acquired 5,000 loyal customers in the period it has been operational.
The closure of the company means they will have to let go of 150 employees who have been joining it since the day it started off as a magazine in 2016 but later pivoted into an eCommerce platform for apparel.
Back when Zumi was still a digital magazine, it had reportedly raised $250,000 in funding from UAE-based Majlis investment and a few other investors. However, after struggling to get advertisement revenue, the company shut down and pivoted into e-commerce.
