Participated · Series A · Aug 2022

DataProphet offers end-to-end prescriptive AI for manufacturing, with PRESCRIBE delivering prescriptive advice and CONNECT enabling data collation and centralization. PRESCRIBE has helped clients reduce the cost of non-quality by an average of 40% when its recommendations are followed. The platform ingests about 100 million unique data points daily and integrates low-level factory data to drive optimization. The 50-person team serves clients in automotive, semiconductor, rubber and foundry sectors across Japan, China, India, Europe, South Africa, the U.S., and South America. DataProphet uses a hands-on approach, continuously monitoring data streams and pushing actionable feedback to the factory floor while engaging customers when advice is not followed. The company plans to invest in its industrial AI product set and support international sales expansion, including developing European and U.S. sales offices. DataProphet builds PRESCRIBE, a prescriptive Expert Execution system powered by AI that automates the next best action for machine operators to accelerate the journey toward autonomous manufacturing. PRESCRIBE guides operators to change process parameters, preempt defects and scraps, and maximize yield across multiple manufacturing verticals including iron foundries, aluminum die casters, long steel and aluminum rolling mills, plastic injection molding, and mineral processing. The company says its system uncovers complex interdependencies and delivers performance uplifts that exceed classical approaches, enabling manufacturers to automate actions without constant reliance on experts or data scientists. DataProphet has received multiple international recognitions, including Frost & Sullivan's 2020 Technology Innovation Leadership Award, World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer (2019), the AIconics Award for Innovation in Deep Learning, and CBInsights' 100 Most Innovative AI Startups 2020. With a recently announced $6 million capital investment, DataProphet aims to continue pioneering AI in manufacturing and to guide customers on their journey toward autonomous operations. DataProphet, founded in 2014 by Frans Cronje and Daniel Schwartzkopff, develops machine-learning solutions to help manufacturers develop products and optimize processes. The company has worked with automotive assemblies, including Daimler, and was the overall winner of the Mercedes‑Benz Innovation Challenge. DataProphet secured a “multi‑million dollar” funding round from Knife Capital; the exact amount was not disclosed. Prior to this deal the startup had raised funding from private investment group Yellowwoods. Management says the new funding will finance further product development and will be directed mainly toward expansion into the US and the EU, with particular emphasis on Germany as a target market. Co‑founder and MD Frans Cronje led discussions with Knife Capital, which began in the second half of last year. DataProphet is a Cape Town-based machine learning startup that custom-builds AI solutions for enterprises, including an Agent Lead Matching Algorithm (US patent pending), Priority Lead Identification, Time Allocation and Fraud Detection algorithms. Founded in 2013, the company works with clients across industries and with small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area. As part of its product roadmap it is developing automated support-agent solutions that integrate with WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to avoid requiring users to download apps. The firm emphasises actionable AI that improves business processes and is positioning to expand globally. DataProphet says recent investment has given it freedom to invest in additional resources and machines to scale its offerings.

Participated · Debt Financing · Sep 2015

Smile Telecoms Holdings is a pan‑African telecommunications group founded in 2007 and incorporated in Mauritius, led by CEO Irene Charnley. It owns and operates 4G LTE mobile broadband networks in the 800MHz band in Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda and has an associate in South Africa and plans to launch in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The company launched commercial 4G LTE networks in 2012, starting in Dar es Salaam and Kampala, followed by Ibadan and Lagos in Nigeria. Core products and services are super‑fast data and, by the end of 2015, clear voice services; planned network roll‑out work involves Alcatel‑Lucent and Ericsson, a full MPLS network, a London point of presence and expanded international backhaul. Smile's stated objective is to become the broadband provider of choice for high‑speed data and clear voice across its markets and to provide over 300 million potential customers in its four countries of operation with a high quality platform. The company raised $365M of financing to accelerate national network roll‑out and fund operating expenditure and working capital.

Participated · Debt Financing · Sep 2015

Smile Telecoms is a Mauritius-based telecommunications company that operates LTE broadband networks in Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. It offers mobile high-speed broadband and plans to launch in the Democratic Republic of Congo early next year. The company intends to expand its LTE infrastructure to match the coverage of its 3G networks by the end of this year. Smile says it has more than 300 million potential customers across those four markets, where internet penetration remains low (Nigeria 38%, Uganda 23%, Tanzania 14%, DR Congo 6.5%). The new capital will fund infrastructure buildout and help it compete with incumbents such as MTN, Airtel, Telefonica and Orange. Since founding in 2007 the company has now raised $600 million to date.