South African online home cleaning service, SweepSouth, announced yesterday that it would “pause” operations in Nigeria starting November 25, 2022.
According to the published announcement, the company cannot operate sustainably in the country due to an “unfavourable global macroeconomic environment.”
SweepSouth was founded in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa, by Aisha Pandor and Alen Ribic. It has since expanded to Egypt, Kenya, and Nigeria, where it launched earlier this year.
The company is still active in South Africa and Kenya. It is also in Egypt, where it acquired FilKhedma, an online marketplace for home maintenance and improvement services like plumbing and carpentry.
All bookings after November 25 will be cancelled, and users refunded.
Interestingly, just two months ago in September 2022, the startup raised $11 million in pre-seed funding.
SweepSouth said it would use the funds to develop and grow its infrastructure and team while launching new services in existing markets and pursuing greenfield expansions and acquisitions across the African continent and beyond.
While there is no set resumption date, SweepSouth said it would continue to monitor developments in the market and prepare for a possible re-entry later.