That is the end. That is the end of everybody. And everything. The high, the mighty, the lowly, the unicorn, the decacorns, the hectocorns, all will die. Dust. Ashes. Death is a commodity you cannot buy off the shelf. The price is not steep. Anybody can afford it. It is a leveller. Forgive me. I sound sombre. The story from the ecosystem is sombre. You will see it. Soon.
On The One Hand
Difficult market conditions. Funding dearth. Lack of trust. These are some of the elements responsible for the erasure of six Kenyan tech start-ups in 2023. These defunct start-ups may never rise. Again. You know, some of these businesses did not die because they are imperfect. PESTEL buried them. Did you say human foibles? No. Unless you bring the case of 54Gene into the basket. For instance, 54Gene died because of alleged ‘financial mismanagement’ and ‘legal entanglements.’ The last CEO, Ron Chiarello, said in a statement.
Dr Abasi Ene-Obong and his team initiated in 2019, 54Gene, to correct an imbalance. Africa contributes less than 3 per cent to genetic material utilised in global pharmaceutical studies. 54Gene – the heralded African genomics firm – had a lofty vision to bridge the prominent genomics research disparity between Africa and the global sphere. Now, that dream is over.
The dream is over. For Sendy. For Dash. For Zumi. For Lazerpay. For Kune Foods. For Notify Logistics. For BRCK. These start-ups died because of a ‘funding drought.’ You can blame the harsh economy for raising the cost of lending.
Nairobi-based fashion start-up Zumi is dead. The co-founder and CEO, William McCarren, attributed the demise to the prevailing economic environment. ‘The current macroeconomic environment has made fundraising extremely difficult. Unfortunately, our business was not able to achieve sustainability in time to survive,” McCarren stated.
High cost of operation did not notify Notify Logistics. It killed the dream. Notify had a rent-a-shelf model. It leveraged leasing space before renting it out to a stream of small enterprises that cannot afford their own offices.
BRCK provided free WiFi in public transport. It got funding from Facebook. But the COVID-19 pandemic resisted public WiFi. It killed BRCK’s business model.
Dash, the dashing Ghanaian Fintech has also died. It did not achieve its vision of solving cross-border payments for Africans. That dream is dead. Bobby Gadhia, whose initial tech firm PC World collapsed in 2016 after 21 years, blamed entrepreneurs’ above-average ambitions when starting for the rapid collapses.
“Most start-ups and entrepreneurs are emotional and over-optimistic about their business ideas. They start these ideas without proper planning and they are disillusioned by the success of Silicon Valley,” he said.
On The Other Hand
Meanwhile, technology-led start-ups run by able and agile people have died. But the ones managed by some persons with special needs are thriving. Disabled persons run some of the businesses below.
Please note. Over 1 billion persons are experiencing significant disability. That is one person in 6. The total addressable market size is about 2 billion people. That is the World Health Organisation. Meanwhile, venture capitalists do not focus on this market. Yet disability tech – solutions that cater to the needs of people with disabilities – is not sexy for many venture capitalists.
When founder and CEO, Matt Pierri enrolled at the University of Oxford for his graduate studies in 2016, he asked which colleges have wheelchair accessibility. He was stunned to discover that there was little to no information on campus accessibility.
This experience led Pierri to create Sociability, an app that helps disabled people find accessible places like restaurants, pubs, and bars. There are almost 8,000 users with data for more than 10 thousand venues on the platform. The team is planning its next international city rollout.
In addition, Munevo has developed smart glasses that translate head movements into commands that power the wheelchair. The medical-grade device uses the smart glasses’ movement sensors to capture the head motion of the wheelchair user.
Individuals can also use the different features of the smart glasses, paired with Munevo’s software, to connect to everything around them, including the computer and phone.
This German start-up launched its product in New York City. It has collaborated with public insurance like Medicaid to cover the cost of the device.
Visually has developed an AI-based solution for the deaf and hard of hearing that can recognise sounds and translate them into visual alerts. Visually Home, for example, detects home sounds like doorbells, telephones, baby cries and fire alarms, and warns users with coloured lights and personalised vibrations.
In the short term
When a Fintech start-up dies, what dies in you?
Nothing dies. A new dream comes alive.
It may be the end of the road for the defunct businesses.
It is a new beginning for others.
