- After ten years of independence, Kandua has been acquired by Santam.
- Kandua will replace Santam Home+ as the platform to hire home service professionals.
- Home+ along with its online utility purchases, marketplace and utility purchases will be retired on 30th June.
In 2014 entrepreneurs Sayo Folawiyo and Arjun Khoosal established Kandua, a platform where folks can hire a carpenter, electrician and other professionals easily. Today it was announced that Kandua was acquried.
Santam has announced that it has wholly acquired Kandua and that it will merge the platform with its existing home service platform Home+. Indeed, heading to Home+ today now directs users to Kandua.
The Home+ platform will be phased out and that means features like online water and electricity purchases as well as the built-in panic button will be phased out. The final day of operation for Home+ is 30th June 2024.
“Kandua’s talent, technology and customer base are valuable assets for our business, as it opens up new avenues for client growth and digital innovation. The business has an established technology and extensive network of customers,” chief executive officer of Santam Partnership Solutions, Gloria Tapon-Njamo said in a press statement.
“Critically, this is a strategic acquisition aimed at accelerating our digital innovation and expansion into new market segments. This acquisition expands the impact that Santam can have on informal artisans and small businesses, through access to training, enabling business growth, job creation, financial inclusion and introducing products tailored for their needs,” adds the CEO.
Seemingly of particular interest to Santam is Kandua for Business. This section of the business caters to retailers and insurance companies and uses technology to make service integration transparent and efficient. Retailers, for example, can offer customers professional installation with the purchase of goods while insurers benefit from enhanced transparency when fulfilling claims.
“Our vision is to make home service fulfilment seamless and equitable for service providers and the customers they serve, driven by trust and simplicity. We do this by using technology to make marketing and business operations easier for service providers: shortening the distance between having a skill and making a living from it. Being part of Santam accelerates this work,” says Folawiyo.
While it’s said that Kandua generates R50 million in work for professionals, it’s not clear how much Santam has paid to acquire Kandua. It’s also not clear how many jobs at Kandua are impacted by this announcement.
For Home+ users we recommend heading to this website to learn more about the transition ahead of the platform’s shutdown next month.
[Image – Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay]
