Grace Ashiru
South African AI research platform Yazi has raised its first institutional funding round from 3 Capital Ventures (3CV) at a pre-money valuation of R30 million ($1.6 million), the company announced.
The amount of the funding round was not disclosed.
Yazi was founded in Cape Town in 2022 by Timothy Treagus, who serves as CEO, and Mzwandile Sotsaka, who serves as CTO, according to the company.
The company operates an AI research platform that conducts surveys, interviews, diary studies, and panel research through WhatsApp, according to the company’s description.
3 Capital Ventures is an early-stage venture firm spun out of investment management firm Allan Gray, according to the announcement.
The capital will fund product development, international expansion, and panel expansion, according to the company.
Product development plans include launching automated voice interviews through WhatsApp, according to the company. The company also plans to expand its research participant panel across Africa and support international expansion as demand grows from research agencies in the United Kingdom and Europe, according to the announcement.
The platform uses AI to conduct conversations with participants, asking follow-up questions and analyzing responses, according to the company’s description.
Yazi has access to 1.8 million pre-qualified research participants, according to the company.
The company’s clients include Old Mutual, Pick n Pay, Discovery, Capitec, and Ipsos, according to the announcement. Ipsos recently signed a 12-month tracker contract, and Old Mutual is launching a quarterly research tracker, according to the company.
Yazi operates in more than 15 countries, according to the company.
Revenue grew 2.5 times over the past financial year, with 64 percent month-on-month growth in the most recent quarter, according to company data. More than 65 percent of revenue is foreign-denominated, according to the company.
Timothy Treagus stated that more than 80 percent of the company’s inbound leads come through AI search. “We rank number one on Google for WhatsApp research keywords and more than 80% of our leads come through AI search,” Treagus stated in the announcement.
South Africa has approximately 28 million to 29 million WhatsApp users, according to data cited in the announcement. The United Kingdom has approximately 41 million to 42 million users. Spain has approximately 33 million users and Germany has more than 50 million users, according to data cited in coverage of the announcement.
