InstaDeep, a Tunisian and London-based enterprise AI firm that develops decision-making algorithms for real-world challenges, has raised $100 million in Series B funding backed by Alpha Intelligence Capital and CDIB.
The investors included BioNTech (the maker of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine), Chimera Abu Dhabi, Deutsche Bahn’s DB Digital Ventures, Google, G42, and Synergie.
“We’ve managed to build a culture of high standards and prove that the talents in Africa are capable of being competitive, working and collaborating with the very best,” said CEO Karim Beguir. “That’s the story we’ve been able to nurture. And today, we’re proud to have a team which is now over multiple countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa, but has some very passionate African AI researchers, engineers making a tangible contribution.”
The corporate AI business wants to use the fresh capital to speed up the launch of revolutionary AI technologies in biotech, logistics, transportation, and electronics manufacturing. Its use of the new finances also includes improving its computing infrastructure, expanding into the United States, and recruiting more personnel.
Why The Investors Invested
A majority of the investors in this round are from InstaDeep’s existing partners. InstaDeep and BioNTech announced a multi-year strategic partnership two years ago to launch a collaborative AI innovation center. The goal of the lab was to use the most recent developments in AI and machine learning to generate new immunotherapies.
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InstaDeep also works with Google’s AI research divisions to develop an early detection system for African desert locust epidemics, as well as working on AI initiatives and publishing collaborative research with DeepMind and Google Research.
“With them being our partners and customers, they’ve been able to see firsthand what InstaDeep platform and the team can achieve,” said co-founder Beguir. “So we see it as a significant milestone and also sort of a vote of confidence in our capabilities and products that they are investing having worked very closely with us on difficult problems for years.”
Another notable variable in this round of investment is the fact the startup was mostly bootstrapped. From 2014 through 2018, Beguir and Slim bootstrapped InstaDeep, reinvesting revenue from clients into hiring additional employees and expanding the company. To scale its systems, the Tunisian startup raised a $7 million Series A investment in 2019 from AfricInvest, a pan-African private equity firm, and Endeavor Catalyst, a New York-based venture capital firm.
The company’s founding team also provides a great insight as to why the investors believed in InstaDeep. Beguir, who is half Tunisian and half French, was born and raised in Tunisia but studied engineering and mathematics in France and the United States. Following a traditional professional path, Beguir founded InstaDeep to demonstrate that African talent could compete, make a difference in deep tech, and collaborate and compete with the finest in the world.
A Look At What InstaDeep Does
Founded in 2014 by Karim Beguir and Zohra Slim, InstaDeep uses advanced machine learning techniques to bring AI to applications within an enterprise environment.
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The AI and machine learning capabilities of the eight-year-old company, according to Beguir, tackle a variety of problems. They can range from a huge shipping corporation attempting to figure out how to transfer thousands of containers efficiently to a railway station with over 30,000 kilometers of track seeking to automate 10,000 train schedules. Designing sophisticated therapies with silicon and arranging components on a printed circuit board are two further examples.
In late November last year, the startup built an early warning system (EWS) in partnership with Google for detecting high-risk SARS-CoV-2 variants, which was one of its best efforts. According to a report from the Financial Times, this EWS discovered more than 90% of World Health Organization (WHO) designated variations two months ahead of time on average, and spotted Omicron three days before it was categorized as a variant of concern by the WHO.
Beguir claimed the startup started with just “two computers, $2,000, and a lot of passion,” with many investors and observers in the African tech and AI industry dismissing InstaDeep’s ambition to partner with the likes of DeepMind and Google.
InstaDeep now employs more than 170 people. More than 130 people work in AI research, engineering, machine learning, and DevOps, with half of the team based in South Africa, Nigeria, and Tunisia.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer