Kenyan Adtech Startup AIfluence raises $1m seed funding round

Kenyan Adtech startup AIfluence has announced it raised $1m in a seed funding round. The round was led by the Dubai-based EQ2 Ventures, including Antler East Africa, Nigerian VC Oui Capital, ArabyAds, and a European family office.

AIfluence was founded by Nelson Aseka (CEO), George Issaias (CMO), Lamusia Anzaya (COO), and Ankit Jindal (CTO). The startup matches influencers with a target demography using its advanced machine learning algorithms.

The platform has been used by regional and global advertisers across FMCG, banking, travel, and electronics across 13 countries in Africa and Asia.

Nelson Aseka co-founder and CEO of AIfluence speaking on the funding said that the startup has found itself in an exciting place as it is at the point of advanced technology.

“We are at the cusp of a revolution, globally the way marketing works is changing. We find ourselves at an intersection of advanced technology and the fastest-growing region in the world in terms of digital and social media penetration. It’s an exciting place to be. Africa’s rich tradition for storytelling is alive and kicking.

“We simply enable such stories to be shared between peers who know and trust each other and can place our brand messages into the heart of this communication ecosystem. We believe anyone can be an influencer.  Our guiding philosophy is that influence is not a profession, it’s an outcome” said Nelson.

The startup intends to use the fund to speed up its expansion into the rest of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia by the end of 2021, and to further invest in AIfluence’s tech and SaaS platform.