Senegal’s Lengo AI secures funding from Egypt’s VC agency Acasia Ventures to enter new African markets

Senegal’s Lengo AI ,an AI-driven FMCG intelligence platform. has secured a pre-seed funding from Egypt-based Early-stage enterprise capital agency Acasia Ventures ,co-led by Ventures Platform and joined by P1 Ventures, Launch Africa, Voltron Capital and quite a lot of different VCs and angel buyers.

The funding might be used to increase the corporate’s tech and gross sales groups, additional develop the AI portion of the product, and enter new African markets.

“Lengo AI’s platform already offers close to real-time market monitoring from a ground-level perspective for over 2,000 merchandise. Now we’re engaged on leveraging AI to attach at scale with the final node of the retail community: the nook retailers,” Smith explains. “We’re constructing a really low friction know-how with retailers and actively recruiting for the very best AI and Software program Engineers! Because of the help from Acasia Ventures, we hope to realize experience in Nigeria and Egypt, and accordingly, make the best connections in each nations to increase our product for shopkeepers and work with manufacturers to cease guessing Africa.”

The startup was based in 2022 by Max Smith (CEO), who has an in depth background in gross sales and market analysis throughout Africa, Roger Xavier Macia (CCO, former CCO at Jumia in Senegal), and Ismaila Seck (CTO), who’s a veteran of Senegal’s AI neighborhood with a PhD in machine and deep studying. Lengo AI is the primary data-driven working system for casual retail in Africa.

It goals to supply intelligence and extremely actionable insights to FMCG manufacturers coming from the 1000’s of nook retailers that make up 90 per cent of purchases throughout the continent. The software-as-a-service platform makes use of a hybrid strategy of Lengo Eagles (area brokers) and AI to attach retailers and FMCG firms with real-time efficiency knowledge on the gross sales of merchandise.

By becoming a member of the Lengo Membership, shopkeepers, who’re on the coronary heart of the social and financial material of African nations, can enhance their revenues by benefiting from insights on buyer behaviours, alerts on new merchandise and a loyalty level system.

On the company finish, it helps native firms within the FMCG sector optimise their assets and offers buying behaviour knowledge to worldwide firms aiming to spend money on Africa.

The corporate was the primary to map out nook retailers promoting FMCG merchandise in Dakar and is within the technique of mapping out an extra six cities. In the present day, Lengo AI accounted for and mapped out over 30,000 nook retailers. 

“After I met Max virtually a 12 months in the past in Dakar, I used to be instantly excited by what he was constructing. Within the following months, as soon as my staff and I bought to dig deeper into the market, look beneath the hood of the product and meet Xavier and Ismaila, it was clear that we have been working with a really particular staff engaged on a novel resolution in one of many largest sectors in Africa,” stated Aly El Shalakany, Managing Associate of Acasia Ventures. “We labored with Lengo to herald among the very high VCs working on the continent in order that we might work collaboratively to execute the bold marketing strategy. We’re delighted to be becoming a member of the board to assist the staff additional develop the technique and open new and thrilling markets for the corporate.”

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