Here are top 10 AI startups in Africa you should know about

The African continent is not excluded from the growing trend of artificial intelligence (AI) startups, as both new and established businesses concentrate on creating and marketing AI technologies. These initiatives seek to solve challenges in a variety of industries by utilising AI algorithms and machine learning to produce creative solutions.

Personalised marketing platforms, intelligent financial trading systems, AI-powered healthcare diagnostic tools, and autonomous automobile development are a few examples of these AI startup endeavours.

Approximately 900 AI startups are located in Africa, according to Tracxn , a company that offers a platform that allows corporate firms and private market investors to watch entities through feeds categorised across industries. However, 10 of them stand out. Check them out as listed by Tracxn below:

1. Interswitch

Founded in 2002, Interswitch offers payment solutions for consumers and businesses. It is situated in Lagos, Nigeria. With over eight investors, the company has $310 million in funding. Individuals can take advantage of hosted or API internet gateways, rewards programme management, and a VISA chip prepaid card.

It also offers businesses a range of services, including retail payment solutions, loyalty programmes, fraud protection, revenue collection, and cash disbursement. It provides services to a variety of industry sectors, including as government, oil and gas, financial organisations, transportation, aviation, and more.

2. Aerobotics

Aerobotics, a company specialising in pest control and farm monitoring, is based in Cape Town, South Africa. It provides drone photography services, AI-enabled pest and disease diagnosis, orchard and yield management, among others.

Established in 2014, the company has raised $27.1 million in investment. Among the investors are FMO, Naspers, and 22 others.

3. Kobo360

Kobo is an AI-powered online marketplace that links carriers and cargo owners. Both people and companies can use it to track goods deliveries and place orders for pickups. It facilitates the management of end-to-end haulage operations for drivers, cargo owners, and freight recipients. Air France, KLM, MDS Logistics, Fetswallet, Chisco, and Ark Insurance Group are a few of the clients.

Kobo was established in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2016. Among its notable investors are Goldman Sachs, Western Technology Investment, and 18 other institutions.

The company has $27.6 million in capital.

4. Zappi

South Africa’s Cape Town is home to Zappi, a platform enabling retailers to get cloud-based customer insights. The company was launched in 2013.

Zappi’s tasks include gathering client data from several channels and utilising machine learning algorithms to deliver insights that are useful. Retailers can use customer information to inform their advertising decisions. Customers include McDonald’s, Pepsico, Verizon, Amazon, and many others.

With investors including Kreos Capital, Cipio Partners, and six others, it currently has $200 million in investment.

5. Apollo Agriculture

Apollo Agriculture was established in 2016 as an online marketplace for farm financing. By use of crop health evaluation, it provides a platform for farmers to obtain finance and agricultural inputs.

For credit evaluation, the platform makes use of mobile technologies, agronomic machine learning, remote sensing, and satellite data. Through the site, farmers may also receive personalised advise about the operation.

Apollo Agriculture can be founded in in Nairobi, Kenya. It currently has $67.8 million in funding. Among its more than 30 investors are Rabobank and British International Investment.

6. Vesti

The first online platform that provides users with peer to peer (P2P) remittance options. It provides a technology that lets customers send and receive money securely in real time across international borders. Blockchain and artificial intelligence are used for security. Additionally, it provides price-matched flight booking bargains.

Located in Lagos, Nigeria, Vesti was founded in 2020. It is funded to the tune of $500,000.

Techstars and Microtraction are among the investors.

7. DataProphet

DataProphet was launched in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa.

The startup offers quality management solutions based on artificial intelligence. In order to optimise production without the need for human analysis, it also suggests modifications to plant control plans, allowing firms to take a step towards autonomous manufacturing.

It offers inspection solutions based on machine learning for finding production flaws.

About $16 million is the amount of funding for it. Microsoft Accelerator, IDC, and seven additional investors are among its backers.

8. Jumo

Jumo is a mobile-only banking platform and online marketplace for business and consumer loans. It provides lending products that let business owners get asset financing and loans. It is possible to customise the loan size, life cycle, and payback plan to meet the needs of each individual.

It provides banks with access to customers who were previously unreachable and empowers them to offer loans, savings accounts, and insurance services through an AI-powered technological stack.

2015 saw the official founding of Jumo in Cape Town, South Africa.

Its funding totals an astounding $304 million. Fidelity Investments and Goldman Sachs are two of the company’s nearly twenty investors.

9. Edves

Edves is a Lagos-based company which was opened for business in 2015.

Its goal is to provide schools with an integrated management platform. It gives customers the ability to oversee all aspects of school operations. Numerous K–12 educational procedures are automated by it, such as student registration, class administration, attendance tracking, and result calculating.

Its funding stands at $2.59 million.

Among the investors are Launch Africa and the Global Acceleration Academy which is based in Hong Kong.

10. Grinta

It is an online pharmacy where prescription drugs and other medical supplies can be bought. Pharma, cosmetics, and medical gadgets are all included in the company’s product catalogue. It sells OTC, prescription drugs, and test kits for diagnostics.

Grinta was established in 2022 in Cairo, Egypt, and currently invests $9.5 million.

Five more investors, along with 500 Global and Endeavor are involved in the business.