Grace Ashiru
Hypeo AI, a Morocco-headquartered artificial intelligence company, has successfully secured investment from Renew Capital to transform the traditionally cumbersome process of connecting brands with content creators through automated, technology-driven solutions.
The startup, established by co-founders Meriam Bessa, Oussama Sekkat, and Salah Eddine Mimouni, addresses fundamental operational challenges plaguing the influencer marketing sector. Their platform dramatically reduces campaign setup timeframes, facilitating brand-creator connections within 15 minutes compared to traditional processes that can span days or weeks.
The technology suite incorporates intelligent matching algorithms, live performance analytics, and market pricing intelligence, replacing the spreadsheet-heavy, email-dependent workflows that currently characterize much of the influencer marketing industry’s operational infrastructure.
Hypeo AI’s platform distinguishes itself by supporting both traditional human influencers and artificially generated digital personalities, creating a comprehensive creator marketplace. This dual approach reflects the company’s recognition of evolving content creation landscapes where virtual influencers increasingly compete alongside human counterparts for brand partnerships.
The company has achieved notable success in the emerging virtual influencer space through its development of AI-powered “Meta Humans” designed specifically for marketing campaigns. These digital personalities represent a growing segment of the influencer economy, offering brands consistent availability and controlled messaging capabilities.
Hypeo AI’s digital persona development capabilities gained international recognition through Kenza Layli, an AI-generated influencer who has accumulated over 200,000 social media followers. Kenza Layli’s reach and engagement levels culminated in selection as a finalist for Miss AI 2024, a global competition celebrating virtual influencer achievement and technological innovation in digital personality creation.
This success demonstrates the commercial viability of AI-generated influencers and validates Hypeo AI’s technical capabilities in creating compelling digital personalities that can engage audiences at scale.
CEO Meriam Bessa emphasized that regional talent availability isn’t the primary constraint facing the North African and Middle Eastern creator economy. “In our region, talent isn’t the problem; it’s the lack of smart infrastructure,” Bessa explained, positioning Hypeo AI’s technological solutions as addressing fundamental market infrastructure gaps rather than talent shortages.
With Renew Capital’s financial backing, Hypeo AI plans to expand platform capabilities, increase creator onboarding capacity, and diversify beyond influencer marketing through the development of AI-powered wellness coaching products. This expansion strategy suggests the company views its core AI technologies as applicable to multiple vertical markets beyond digital marketing.
Contrary to being merely a finalist as initially reported, Kenza Layli achieved a historic milestone by becoming the world’s first Miss AI 2024 winner. The virtual influencer triumphed over more than 1,500 computer-generated competitors to claim the title and a $20,000 cash prize, marking a significant validation of AI-generated content creator capabilities.
The creators of AI influencer Kenza Layli aimed to present her as a symbol of a strong and modern Moroccan woman, while her character profile includes preferences for the color red, supporting national sports teams, and promoting “diversity and inclusivity” in the AI creator landscape. This achievement demonstrates the commercial and cultural potential of AI-generated influencers in global markets.
Renew Capital operates as an early-stage venture capital firm investing in Africa’s tech-enabled startups, partnering with visionary founders to drive growth. The firm’s investment in Hypeo AI aligns with broader portfolio strategies targeting innovative African technology companies with continental expansion potential.
Renew Capital recently launched Renew Venture Lab Fund 2, designed to invest in tech startups across Africa while providing training and support for founders, indicating the firm’s systematic approach to African startup ecosystem development beyond pure capital deployment.
Hypeo AI operates from both Casablanca and New York, positioning itself as a bridge between African and American markets. Founded in 2024, the platform targets brand and creator connections across Africa and the Middle East, addressing what CEO Bessa identifies as infrastructure gaps rather than talent shortages in these rapidly growing digital marketing regions.
The company’s technology addresses widespread inefficiencies in regional influencer marketing, where manual processes and fragmented solutions have historically limited campaign effectiveness and creator monetization opportunities.
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