Rwazi, a market intelligence startup that helps the world to understand consumers in emerging markets, has raised $4 million in a seed round led by Bonfire Ventures. With this fresh capital, Rwazi will double down on its penetration into emerging markets like Africa and South Asia.
Rwazi’s business model incorporates a consumer network that provides the company with insights across industries, ranging from consumer goods and financial services to telecommunications and healthcare. Rwazi crowdsources data collection through an app, working with on-the-ground consumers who are paid for sharing details about the products they buy. This information comes in handy for global brands who leverage Rwazi’s customer dashboard to access actionable insights
In a statement shared with TechCabal, Joseph Rutakangwa, who co-founded Rwazi with Eric Sewankambo, said, “We’ve already built a network of 50,000 local consumers across Africa who provide our paying subscribers, including Fortune 500 global brands, with unparalleled insight into who’s buying what, for how much, from where, when, and why. Now, we’re announcing that with our new funds, we’ll be further scaling our reach across Africa, South Asia, and parts of Latin America.”
Rwazi is notably playing in the huge big data analytics market which was forecast to be $271 billion this year and is projected to grow beyond $655 billion by 2029. In addition, emerging markets such as sub-Saharan Africa are projected to increase in population, further widening the demand for consumer intelligence. With its latest raise, Rwazi hopes to position itself as a market leader and capture a larger share of this expanding market.
Rwazi graduated from Techstars Los Angeles in June 2022, before closing a $3.8 million seed round later in October. This fresh raise, which welcomed participation from Newfund Capital and Alumni Ventures, brings Rwazi’s total funding to $7.8 million.
Jennifer Richard, principal at Bonfire Ventures, was effusive about Rwazis founders, maintaining that her investment company remains bullish on Rwazi. “I met the founders of Rwazi and was instantly impressed by their intellect, curiosity, and vision for the future of data visibility in emerging markets. By the time we wrote the term sheet four months later, Joseph and Eric had more than tripled revenue with a team of five and no capital raised.”
“Needless to say, we are honored to support them as partners, and we’re bullish on Rwazi’s ability to execute a logistically challenging operation in a vast market,” she added.
