Migration From GCP to AWS/ Kubernetes Implementation

A rapidly scaling e-commerce startup serving customers across Africa was experiencing infrastructure limitations that hindered its ability to support increasing demand. The company, known for helping consumers save up to 30% on fresh produce and packaged goods, relied on a GCP-based infrastructure that lacked the scalability, automation, and operational maturity required for its next stage of growth.

To address these challenges, the client partnered with Matoffo to lead a full-scale migration from Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to Amazon Web Services (AWS), along with the design and implementation of a production-grade Kubernetes environment using Amazon EKS. The project included automated infrastructure provisioning, improved CI/CD pipelines, and high-availability deployment practices tailored to the client’s business model.

As a result, the client achieved faster deployment cycles, improved system reliability, and better cost control – empowering them to scale services across new markets with minimal operational risk and greater developer efficiency. The successful migration laid the technical foundation for continued growth while maintaining a mission-critical focus on affordability and customer access.

The client is a fast-growing B2C e-commerce company on a mission to reduce the cost of living in urban Africa. Operating in Nairobi, Kenya, the company serves over 100,000 customers across 25 neighborhoods, offering access to affordable fresh produce and consumer packaged goods through a digital-first shopping experience.

Positioned as one of the most impactful e-commerce models for Africa’s urban majority, the platform enables consumers to access lower prices, higher-quality items, and a wider product selection – all while supporting local communities and economic empowerment.

With customer demand rising and the business rapidly expanding, the client faced growing limitations with its existing cloud infrastructure on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Manual scaling, deployment inconsistencies, and limited automation capabilities created operational strain and slowed the company’s ability to scale efficiently. To maintain its growth trajectory and continue delivering on its mission, the client sought a robust, cloud-native solution that could deliver scalability, reliability, and faster development cycles.

As the client scaled its e-commerce operations to meet increasing demand across Nairobi’s urban neighborhoods, it became clear that its existing cloud environment could no longer support its growth. The infrastructure, hosted on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), lacked the flexibility, automation, and scalability required to maintain service quality, speed, and cost-efficiency.

Key Business Challenges:

These challenges not only slowed the company’s ability to serve its growing customer base but also put pressure on engineering teams – limiting their ability to innovate, iterate, and scale sustainably. Migrating to AWS with a modern, Kubernetes-powered architecture was essential to unlocking performance, efficiency, and long-term growth.

In response to the scalability limitations, deployment inefficiencies, and infrastructure rigidity of its legacy GCP environment, the client set out to achieve a set of focused, results-driven objectives. These goals aimed to modernize the organization’s technical foundation—enabling it to support rapid customer growth, streamline development workflows, and improve cost efficiency without compromising service quality.

By setting these strategic goals, the client sought not only to resolve immediate operational pain points but to lay the groundwork for long-term expansion, engineering efficiency, and cloud cost optimization across its fast-growing e-commerce platform.

To resolve the limitations of the client’s GCP-based infrastructure, Matoffo implemented a structured, multi-phase migration and modernization strategy – rebuilding the client’s cloud environment on AWS and deploying a production-grade Kubernetes platform using Amazon EKS. The solution was designed for scalability, security, and zero-downtime deployment – empowering the client to support growing user demand while improving operational agility and cost efficiency.

This carefully planned migration and Kubernetes implementation delivered a scalable, secure, and developer-friendly cloud platform – laying the groundwork for future innovation, cost efficiency, and operational maturity.

The migration from GCP to AWS and the implementation of a production-grade Kubernetes environment delivered substantial improvements across operational performance, scalability, cost efficiency, and developer productivity. By introducing Infrastructure as Code (IaC), GitOps workflows, and an autoscaling EKS cluster, the client was able to modernize its cloud infrastructure and support long-term growth with minimal manual intervention.

This transformation gave the client a flexible, secure, and cost-optimized foundation that supports rapid iteration while keeping infrastructure complexity and overhead low.

The success of the GCP-to-AWS migration and Kubernetes platform implementation was driven by a combination of architectural foresight, automation-first thinking, and close collaboration between development, DevOps, and business teams. The following principles were critical to achieving a smooth transition and building a scalable, future-ready platform:

These learnings demonstrate how modern cloud infrastructure – when implemented with automation, security, and business alignment in mind – can enable startups to scale with confidence while keeping control over complexity and cost.

Building on the success of the cloud migration and Kubernetes modernization initiative, the client is now well-positioned to enhance platform capabilities, extend operational impact across teams, and accelerate delivery of new services. The following next steps will ensure continued optimization, scalability, and business value:

These next steps are aimed at unlocking the full strategic potential of the AWS ecosystem – allowing the client to scale faster, operate smarter, and innovate with confidence as it expands its services across new markets.

The implementation of Matoffo’s intelligent bill processing platform marked a transformative step in the client’s financial operations. By replacing fragmented, manual workflows with a scalable, AI-powered solution, the client not only resolved long-standing inefficiencies but also positioned itself for sustained growth and innovation.

The platform’s impact extends beyond operational improvements – it reinforces the organization’s commitment to accuracy, compliance, and technological leadership in a fast-evolving fintech landscape. With automated decision-making, seamless integration, and real-time visibility, the client now operates with greater agility, reduced overhead, and enhanced control.

Most importantly, this transformation opens the door to broader digital initiatives – from cross-department automation to future service offerings – laying a strong foundation for long-term competitive advantage in the financial technology space.