Investor Updates: Tunisian AI startup raises $100m

Tunisian enterprise AI startup raises $100m

Highlights

• InstaDeep, a Tunis and London-based enterprise AI startup has raised $100 million in Series B financing led by Alpha Intelligence Capital and CDIB, with participation from Google, BioNTech and others.
• Founded by Karim Beguir and Zohra Slim in 2014, InstaDeep creates decision-making systems using advanced machine learning for solving real-world enterprise problems.
• The startup is headquartered in London and has offices in Paris, Tunis, Lagos, Dubai, and Cape Town. With the new funding, it plans to accelerate the launch of disruptive AI products across several industries and advance its computing infrastructure, expand into the US, and hire more talent.

Source: Business Wire

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For enterprises, artificial intelligence has the potential to generate meaningful returns. Well over half of the business executives who responded to a PwC survey say their adoption of AI within the workplace led to a boost in productivity and McKinsey found that 44% of firms using the technology achieved a reduction in business costs. However, implementation remains a barrier largely due to the absence of sufficient talent. That’s where specialized vendors like InstaDeep come in and being an African startup hasn’t stopped the company from signing on big global companies, both as clients and for partnerships.

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SA video HR startup plans pan-African expansion

Highlights

• South Africa-based HR software startup Wamly is targeting African expansion after securing a second round of undisclosed funding from venture capital firm Knife Capital.
• Founded in 2018 by Francois de Wet, Wamly is one-way video interview software that connects companies to candidates and helps them speed up the talent acquisition process. 
• The startup’s software allows firms to recruit for vacant positions without the need for in-person interviews, allowing them to interview people virtually and source the right candidates faster.

Source: Disrupt Africa

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Wamly is one of an increasing number of technology startups across Africa that are reinventing the largely traditional and manual human resources and administrative processes in corporate organizations. In Africa, startups that play in this space have a big market opportunity as every large company needs administrative solutions. There’s also a growing appetite for technology-enabled solutions, especially by organizations that wish to digitize their workplaces.

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Kenya’s Zanifu raises $1m to finance MSMEs

Highlights

• Zanifu, a Kenyan fintech that enables access to working capital for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by providing short-term stock financing, has secured $1 million in seed funding.
• The startup intends to use the funds to upgrade its platforms, increase the number of MSMEs it serves by an additional 15,000 FMCG retailers in the next year, as well as expand into Ghana and Uganda.
• Launch Africa Ventures, Sayani Investments, Saviu Ventures and several angel investors from both Kenya and Nigeria participated in the round which brings the total funding received by the startup so far, to $1.2 million.

Source: Disrupt Africa

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Small and medium enterprises play a major role in most economies, especially in developing countries but access to finance has always been a major constraint to their growth. As much as 65 million firms, or 40% of formal MSMEs in developing countries, have an unmet financing need of $5.2 trillion every year, per the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Many startups like Zanifu have found ways to profitably finance these small and medium businesses across the continent at reasonable interest rates. Float, Prospa, Brass, and Sparkle are a few others that provide financial support to businesses.