South African microjobbing startup M4JAM is to resume operations under new ownership after the founding team concluded the successful sale of the company.
All had seemed rosy for M4JAM, which in February of last year, raised funding from Naspers and Tencent-owned WeChat Africa in order to scale locally and expand globally.
But in March the board decided to cease trading and sell off M4JAM’s assets after the company failed to achieve profitability within the investment timeframe.
Co-founder Andre Hugo confirmed to Disrupt Africa the company – which allows brands and NGOs to post small tasks which can then be completed by “jobbers” via their mobile phones – would close if a buyer could not be found.
That buyer has been found, and though the identities of the new owners has not been confirmed, M4JAM will now relaunch in something close to its original form. Hugo and fellow co-founder Warren Venter have left the company, however.
In a post on LinkedIn, Hugo said over the last 18 months M4JAM had successfully created micro jobs for over 130,000 people in South Africa.
“The journey has been incredible from working in my study at home, to presenting in Frankfurt at Mobicon, to VC meetings in Amsterdam, San Francisco and New York,” he said.
He confirmed that the journey had now come to an end, with the sale of the company successfully concluded last week.
“We wish the new owners the best of luck with the business and know that they will continue grow it as part of their overall strategy,” Hugo said.
