South African AI research platform Yazi has raised its first institutional funding round from 3 Capital Ventures at a pre-money valuation of 30 million rand ($1.6 million), the company announced. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.
Yazi was founded in Cape Town in 2022 by Timothy Treagus, who serves as CEO, and Mzwandile Sotsaka, who serves as chief technology officer. The platform conducts surveys, interviews, diary studies and panel research through WhatsApp, using AI to hold conversations with participants, ask follow-up questions and analyze responses.
3 Capital Ventures is an early-stage venture firm spun out of investment management company Allan Gray. The capital will fund product development, panel expansion and international growth.
Product development plans include launching automated voice interviews through WhatsApp. The company also plans to expand its research participant panel across Africa and pursue international growth as demand increases from research agencies in the United Kingdom and Europe.
Yazi currently operates in more than 15 countries and has access to 1.8 million pre-qualified research participants. Clients include Old Mutual, Pick n Pay, Discovery, Capitec and Ipsos. Ipsos recently signed a 12-month tracker contract and Old Mutual is launching a quarterly research tracker through the platform.
Revenue grew 2.5 times over the past financial year, with 64% month-on-month growth in the most recent quarter. More than 65% of revenue is foreign-denominated.
Treagus said the company’s growth has been driven significantly by AI-powered search visibility. “We rank number one on Google for WhatsApp research keywords and more than 80% of our leads come through AI search,” he said.
