Aya Data, a Ghana-based AI startup, has officially announced the successful closure of its pre-seed round of funding. The company has secured support from two prominent investors, Microtraction and Savannah Fund, marking a pivotal moment in its journey to transform the landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) development.
Aya Data’s mission centers around bridging the divide in the AI value chain, which has traditionally been fragmented between data science teams in the global north and annotators in the global south. This fragmentation has led to costly, inflexible, and ethically opaque AI solutions. Aya Data aims to change this narrative by building AI solutions for the global market entirely from Africa, emphasizing flexibility, ethics, and affordability.
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The startup envisions using AI to revolutionize a wide range of industries, from agriculture to forestry, finance, healthcare, and beyond. By harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, Aya Data aspires to empower farmers to increase their productivity, facilitate the rapid growth of forests, enable financial institutions to serve their customers more effectively, and improve the overall quality of healthcare outcomes.
Speaking about the successful funding round, Ama Larbi Siaw and Freddie Monk, the co-founders of Aya Data, expressed their enthusiasm for the partnership with Microtraction and Savannah Fund. They believe these investors will play a crucial role in helping them redefine the way AI is developed and deployed for the benefit of all.
Aya Data, founded in 2020, has quickly risen to prominence as the largest Data Services and AI Solutions provider in West Africa. The company’s ambitious mission goes beyond its business goals; it seeks to create thousands of high-quality jobs in advanced technology and establish the first center of AI excellence in the region. This initiative aims to bring the transformative benefits of AI to a place where it can have the most significant impact.
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Aya Data’s core offerings include AI training, natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning services, positioning itself as a leading player in the AI sector in Africa.
The founders of Aya Data, Ama Larbi Siaw and Freddie Monk, bring a wealth of experience to the venture, with 12 years of successfully building enterprises in West Africa. Their entrepreneurial journey was motivated by a profound realization of the gap between the abundance of talent in the region and the limited availability of quality job opportunities. It’s noteworthy that it takes an average of seven years for a graduate from one of Ghana’s 65+ universities to start a professional career, highlighting the pressing need for initiatives like Aya Data.
The company, which has offices in the UK and Accra, Ghana, derives its name from the Adinkra symbol “Aya,” which represents resourcefulness and endurance. This choice reflects the determination of the Aya Data team, who have thrived in the complexities of the AI industry and are unwavering in their commitment to overcoming challenges.
With the successful completion of its pre-seed funding round and the support of esteemed investors Microtraction and Savannah Fund, Aya Data is poised to make a significant impact on the African technology landscape. The startup’s mission to make AI more accessible, ethical, and flexible holds the promise of transforming industries and creating new opportunities for talent in the region.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the con