Nairobi-based fashion e-commerce startup Zumi is shutting down.
“The current macro environment has made fundraising extremely difficult, and unfortunately, our business was not able to achieve sustainability in time to survive,” said the startup’s co-founder and CEO, William McCarren, in a Linkedin post.
“This journey has been the most challenging yet rewarding experience of my life. We started out as an online magazine in 2016 and pivoted into an e-commerce platform for apparel. We persevered through COVID-19, a ban on apparel imports, and countless near-death experiences. Building businesses in emerging markets requires a special blend of ambition, grit, and craziness, and I’m incredibly grateful for the experience.”
The B2B e-commerce company’s primary offering was connecting fashion and apparel wholesalers with retailers in a transparent marketplace while offering embedded financing.
Zumi was cofounded by experienced e-commerce executives based in Europe and East Africa in 2016. McCarren was previously the head of operations at Jumia.
CCO Eric Njogu was previously the General Manager of Twiga, while COO Tomas Rosales was previously associated with Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
CTO Mohammed Nuur had worked with Amazon and SpaceX on software. CFO Sabrina Dorman also previously worked for Jumia and INSEAD.
Kenyan startups that have shut down include Kune Foods, Notify Logistics and WeFarm.
