Moove, an African startup that has raised the second highest amount of funding ($181.8 million) in 2022 (second only to Flutterwave’s $250 million), has sparked conversations following its recent ‘dismissal of employees, a number that is still unknown.
This year, Moove has had 4 rounds of funding including the recent $30 million funding from an American multinational firm known as Franklin Templeton Investments. Officially, Moove claims to have dismissed the employees due to incompetence and gross misconduct.
However, an inside source disclosed that prior to the dismissals, the Fintech CEO through an email to employees informed that the company was trying to minimize costs noting that it was burning through a lot of money.
Founded by Nigerians Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi, Moove is a fintech that allows mobility entrepreneurs to secure brand-new cars in Africa through a rent-to-buy model. Entrepreneurs in the mobility business in countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Egypt are aided with the process of acquiring a car on a loan and ably paying for it in weekly/ monthly installments for up to a period of 4 years.
As reported by techpoint.africa the startup's rapid extension program could be weighing heavily on its finances. Operating globally in 10 markets, the company has extended its wings to 7 new markets in Europe, India, and UAE within a period of 6 months. According to the startup, it’s the latest funding will be used to acquire 2000 EVs to operate in the UAE in 2023 so as to help cities like Dubai reach their Net Zero targets by reducing 5,000 metric tonnes of carbon emissions.
Unlike in 2021, several tech startups have felt the wrath of the economic downturn in 2022 and thus, laid off employees. Tech startups have laid off over 150,000 employees in 2022 alone which is more than the 8715 laid off in 2020 during the pandemic. In Africa, a host of startups including Wave Mobile Money, Safeboda, Sendy, Nestcoin, Kuda, Swvl, Vezeeta, and 54Gene have all laid off workers.
Cover Photo/TechCrunch
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