# Sidney Rema

> Sidney Rema is the co-founder and CEO of Sanifu (YC S22), a Nairobi-based startup that uses AI to pull sales orders out of emails, WhatsApp messages, PDFs and even handwritten notes and drops them straight into ERP systems. A University of Nairobi medical student who kept building companies instead of finishing his degree, Rema spent years in small-business banking and payments before co-founding Sanifu with Phelix Juma and Bernard Momanyi. The company grew out of Patika, a marketplace the team started as a food-ordering app called MealTime, and now works with African manufacturers and distributors to cut order processing from minutes to seconds.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Sanifu (YC S22)
- **Organizations:** Sanifu, Patika Technology, Kuza Lab, VoSpine, MealTime
- **Nationality:** Kenyan
- **Education:** Medicine & Surgery (partial / did not complete), University of Nairobi
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Sanifu (YC S22), backed by Y Combinator with its standard $500k investment, Was the only founder from East, Central and Southern Africa in YC's Summer 2022 batch, Built payments systems processing $10M+ in monthly gross transaction value across Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda

## Career timeline

- **2016** — Founded VoSpine, an interactive platform that grew to 80,000+ users
- **2017** — Launched MealTime, a food-ordering platform, with Phelix Juma while both were students at University of Nairobi
- **2018** — Pivoted MealTime into Patika, a location-based marketplace connecting Kenyan SMEs and service seekers
- **2021** — Co-founded Sanifu in Nairobi with Phelix Juma
- **2022** — Accepted into Y Combinator's Summer 2022 batch as CEO of Patika/Sanifu, the only startup from East, Central and Southern Africa in the cohort
- **2024** — Publicly launched Sanifu.ai, an AI order-processing platform for African manufacturers and distributors

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Sanifu (YC S22), backed by Y Combinator with its standard $500k investment
- Was the only founder from East, Central and Southern Africa in YC's Summer 2022 batch
- Built payments systems processing $10M+ in monthly gross transaction value across Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda
- Grew an early student venture, VoSpine, to more than 80,000 users
- Launched five companies within five years of starting university
- Onboarded manufacturers like Kenchic Limited and Capwell Industries, cutting order processing from 5-10 minutes to under 30 seconds per order

## Latest updates

- **2024-08** — Sanifu.ai launched publicly as an AI order-processing platform for manufacturers and distributors, with early adopters Kenchic and Capwell and 11 more manufacturers in live pilots.

## Links

- Website: https://patika.africa
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sidney-rema-90138658
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/patikaafrica
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/people/Patika-Africa/100072234372525/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/sidney-rema
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-31