About this time last year, #KenyansonTwitter (or KOT), which is the umbrella term for active Kenyans on the social media platform, registered their disapproval of Kune; a little-known foodtech startup that had just announced a USD 1 M pre-seed in a TechCrunch piece.
Almost exactly one year later, Kenyans are turning their noses up at Kune yet again.
KOT, which sort of has a reputation for being a vocal force with the kind of push that has unsettled global entities like Procter & Gamble and CNN in the past, might not have cared too much about the fledgling Nairobi-based startup. And the obscure pre-seed announcement dated June 17, 2021, could have easily gone unnoticed in the vast sea of unremarkable startup noise.
Well, that might have been the case if not for some of the founder’s comments, as well as the founding story. Kune has sort of had a label on its back since then. And some recent revelations on Kune’s new direction have only amplified the disapproval.