African market intelligence startup Rwazi raises $4 million funding
African market intelligence startup Rwazi has raised a $4 million seed funding round led by Bonfire Ventures and saw participation from Newfund Capital and Alumni Ventures.
The company founded in 2021 aims at bridging the gap by providing insights backed by data collected directly from consumers, to help brands learn more about the market. Rwazi is able to give insight into consumer profiles, their purchasing power, competitor products, and other marketing essentials.
Company co-founder and CEO Joseph Rutakangwa says that they already have a presence in 40 countries in Africa. It’s also present in South Asia and Latin America.
“By using Rwazi, multinationals access data on who is buying what, for how much, from where, when, and why, to help them drive revenue and expand. Because brands are getting data from the horse’s mouth and can see how consumers are making purchasing decisions, they can do hyper-local messaging, pricing, and packaging,” said Rutakangwa.
According to Rutakangwa, the new funding will be instrumental in their expansion drive.
“We are rolling out new products this year that support different languages because this has been a barrier to our growth in these regions.”
Rwazi wants to integrate multiple languages into its system in order to serve clients better.
The need for such data cannot be underlined in emerging markets, but it’s not always easy to come by. They aim at bridging the gap by collecting the data directly from product users.
The CEO said that its business model is useful for brands seeking the right locations for investments and expansion or targeting certain demographics.
