InstaDeep - Afrikan Heroes

BioNTech Completes $550M Acquisition of Tunisia’s InstaDeep to Bolster AI-Powered Drug Discovery

August 1, 2023

BioNTech SE, the renowned German biotech firm that played a pivotal role in the creation of the world’s leading Covid-19 vaccine in collaboration with Pfizer Inc., has achieved a major milestone by finalizing its acquisition of InstaDeep, a Tunisian startup celebrated for its expertise in developing sophisticated decision-making algorithms to tackle real-world challenges. The deal, which was officially announced in January, was successfully closed yesterday, cementing BioNTech’s position at the forefront of AI-powered drug discovery and medical innovation.

The strategic acquisition, valued at approximately 500 million euros, reflects BioNTech’s unwavering commitment to leveraging artificial intelligence to revolutionize drug design and development. It holds the promise of not only accelerating the creation of next-generation immunotherapies and vaccines but also addresses diseases with pressing unmet medical needs, a critical pursuit in the medical field.

As part of the agreement, BioNTech secured the remaining shares of InstaDeep, excluding those already held, through a carefully structured payment arrangement. The financial terms encompass a combination of cash payments, BioNTech shares, and future payments contingent on the achievement of pre-defined results. This strategic approach underscores BioNTech’s prudent business acumen and its vision of maximizing the synergies of this alliance.

With the successful completion of the acquisition, InstaDeep has assumed a new identity as a London-based subsidiary, forming the nucleus of BioNTech’s rapidly expanding portfolio of initiatives centered on the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the medical domain. The decision to retain InstaDeep as a subsidiary underscores BioNTech’s recognition of the significant value and expertise that the startup brings to the table.

The roots of the BioNTech-InstaDeep partnership were planted in 2019, and the relationship continued to blossom over the years. Acknowledging the immense potential of InstaDeep’s technology, BioNTech further solidified its commitment in January 2022 by making a strategic investment in InstaDeep’s shares during the startup’s Series B financing round, laying the groundwork for the successful acquisition today.

Beyond drug development, the acquisition empowers BioNTech to extend the frontiers of artificial intelligence into other critical domains, including manufacturing. It also aligns with BioNTech’s broader initiatives, such as its recent partnership with the UK government to treat 10,000 cancer patients by 2030. Leveraging health and genome data to identify patients more swiftly, this collaboration highlights BioNTech’s dedication to addressing pressing healthcare challenges.

Ugur Sahin, Chief Executive Officer of BioNTech, expressed his vision of transforming the company into a technology-driven enterprise, seamlessly integrating artificial intelligence into every facet of its work. Sahin’s leadership and dedication to innovation have been instrumental in BioNTech’s meteoric rise in the medical field.

With the integration of approximately 240 new employees from InstaDeep, this acquisition represents not only a major business move but also a strategic investment in nurturing talent and expertise. It further cements BioNTech’s position as a pioneering force in AI-driven healthcare solutions and sets the stage for groundbreaking advancements in the future of drug discovery and medical research.

The successful completion of the InstaDeep acquisition marks a significant chapter in BioNTech’s history, propelling the company to the vanguard of cutting-edge medical research and development. As BioNTech continues its mission to improve lives through innovation, the world eagerly anticipates the transformative impact of AI-powered healthcare breakthroughs that lie ahead.

Tunisian AI Startup InstaDeep Set For BioNTech SE Purchase At $684M

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 continent’s pioneers in this regard

How Long Does It Take To Sell Or Exit A Tech Startup In Africa?

January 16, 2023

The decision to sell or exit a tech startup typically fills investors and entrepreneurs in Africa with excitement, especially given the potential returns on investments. The recent proposal to buy the artificial intelligence startup InstaDeep from Tunisia has highlighted the significance of startup exits for both investors and founders. InstaDeep would be sold for $687M after over 9 years in business, making it possibly the most significant acquisition to have emerge from Africa. A total of £362 million in cash and BioNTech shares will be paid upfront for 100% of the outstanding InstaDeep shares, excluding the shares already owned by BioNTech, as part of the transaction. Shareholders in InstaDeep will also be qualified for future performance-based milestone payments totaling up to £200 million.

Although it took the founders of InstaDeep almost 9 years to develop such a valuable business, in this study we take into account the typical time it takes to develop a tech startup in Africa to the point where it is prepared for purchase or IPO (Initial Public Offerings), if the proper funding and management are used. We found that, on average, it would take an African tech startup roughly 6.5 or 7 years to mature up to the age of acquisition, although it may take up to 20 years in some situations, out of the total deals of 93 acquisitions and IPOs we analysed.

The following summarises our conclusions:

S/N	NAME OF STARTUP	SECTOR OF STARTUP	PRIMARY COUNTRY OF OPERATIONS	YEAR FOUNDED	YEAR ACQUIRED	NUMBER OF YEARS BEFORE EXIT	NAME OF ACQUIROR/EXIT TYPE	PRIMARY COUNTRY OF ACQUIROR/ PLACE OF EXIT	NATURE/DESCRIPTION OF ACQUISITION/EXIT

1	Cars45	Car-listing marketplace	Nigeria	2016	2017;2020; 2021	1	Frontier Car Group; OLX Group; JIJI	Germany; Netherlands; Nigeria (respectively)	Undisclosed
2	Underlie	Open Banking	Egypt	2021	2022	1	Fintech Galaxy	UAE	Undisclosed
3	Lamma	e-Grocery and Q-commerce	Tunisia	2021	2022	1	Appetito	Egypt	Undisclosed
4	Exits	M&A Marketplace	Egypt	2022	2022	1	PIE	Egypt	Undisclosed
5	Gyft	Mobile Gift Card	South Africa	2012	2014	2	FirstData	United States	Acquired for $54m
6	FwRun	Ecommerce	Egypt	2019	2021	2	Diggipacks	Saudi Arabia	Undisclosed
7	Surebet	Betting/Gaming	Kenya	2019	2021	2	TransAtlantic Capital	United States	Undisclosed
8	Delivroum	Food delivery	Togo	2018	2020	2	Gozem	Togo	Undisclosed
9	Shago Payments	Ecommerce payments solutions	Nigeria	2019	2021	2	Alerzo	Nigeria	Undisclosed
10	Sa3ar	Auto tech (car assessment)	Egypt	2019	2021	2	Contactcars.com	Egypt	Undisclosed
11	Stabus	Mobility	Ghana	2019	2021	2	Treepz (Formerly Plentywaka)	Nigeria	Undisclosed
12	Disha	One no-code tool for content creator	Nigeria	2019	2021	2	Interswitch	Nigeria	Disha planned to shut down on December 31, 2021, save for the acquisition. Deal amount undisclosed.
13	DoctorOnline	Healthtech	Egypt	2020	2022	2	CheckMe	Egypt	Undisclosed
14	Talabeyah	B2B Ecommerce	Egypt	2020	2022	2	MNT-Halan	Egypt	Undisclosed
15	Gallop Express	Logistics	Egypt	2020	2022	2	GLT Express	Saudi Arabia	Undisclosed
16	Circle	Proptech	Egypt	2020	2022	2	Milango	Egypt	Undisclosed
17	Digiduka	Fintech	Kenya	2019	2021	3	MarketForce	Kenya	Undisclosed
18	Mangwee	Fintech (Mobile payments)	Zambia	2018	2021	3	Zeepay	Ghana	Undisclosed
19	Harmonica	Dating	Egypt	2017	2020	3	Match Group	United States	Undisclosed
20	Savi.ng	Fintech (Wealth management)	Nigeria	2018	2021	3	PiggyVest	Nigeria	Undisclosed
21	Apposit	Enterprise (Software development)	Ethiopia	2017	2020	3	Paga	Nigeria	Undisclosed
22	Amplify	Fintech	Nigeria	2016	2019	3	OneFi	Nigeria	Undisclosed
23	QuickHelp	AI (chatbot)	Nigeria	2015	2018	3	1001 Squared Artificial Intelligence	Canada	Undisclosed
24	TopCheck	Ecommerce	Nigeria	2015	2018	3	Silvertree	Nigeria	Undisclosed
25	Fundall	Fintech	Nigeria	2019	2021	3	Emerging Africa Group	Nigeria	Undisclosed
26	FarmTrust	Blockchain-enabled ecommerce	Tunisia	2018	2021	3	LAMMA	Tunisia	Undisclosed
27	SwitchPay	Fintech providing alternative payments options to merchants and retailers.	South Africa	2018	2021	3	Adumo	South Africa	Undisclosed
28	Flo by Saada	Ecommerce	Kenya	2019	2022	3	Elloe	Kenya	Undisclosed
29	Fatura	B2B Ecommerce	Egypt	2019	2022	3	EFG Hermes Holding	Egypt	Undisclosed
30	Radar	HR And Payroll	South Africa	2019	2022	3	Firepay	South Africa	Undisclosed
31	PayJustNow	‘Buy Now, Pay Later’	South Africa	2019	2022	3	Weaver Fintech	Mauritius	Undisclosed
32	Tareeqi	Bus tracking	Egypt	2018	2021	3	eMushrif	Oman	Undisclosed
33	WooCommerce	Open source ecommerce plugin	South Africa	2011	2015	4	WordPress	United States	Acquisition estimated to be worth over $30 million
34	WaystoCap	B2B Ecommerce	Morocco	2017	2021	4	MaxAB	Egypt	Undisclosed
35	Paystack	Fintech (Payments)	Nigeria	2016	2020	4	Stripe	United States	Acquired for over $200m
36	Bottles App	Logistics (on-demand Delivery)	South Africa	2016	2020	4	Pick n Pay	South Africa	Undisclosed
37	StarterHub	Community	Egypt	2015	2019	4	RiseUp	Egypt	Undisclosed
38	Surf Kenya	Wi-fi	Kenya	2015	2019	4	BRCK	Kenya	Undisclosed
39	Source Beauty	Fashion Ecommerce	Egypt	2018	2022	4	ECC Group	Egypt	Undisclosed
40	DilenyTech	Artificial Intelligence	Egypt	2018	2022	4	Astute Imaging	USA	Undisclosed
41	Mowarrid	B2B Marketplace	Egypt	2018	2022	4	Sary	Saudi Arabia	Undisclosed
42	Crossfin	Card and mobile-enabled payment transactions	South Africa	2017	2021	4	The EMMF I and ARC consortium	South Africa	$94.3m
43	Nimbula	Enterprise (Cloud computing)	South Africa	2008	2013	5	Oracle	United States	Acquired for $110 million
44	WayaWaya	AI and Machine Learning	Kenya	2016	2021	5	Ajua	Kenya	Undisclosed
45	Cape Networks	SaaS	South Africa	2013	2018	5	HP	United States	Undisclosed
46	Quench	Ecommerce and last-mile delivery service	South Africa	2016	2021	5	The Foschini Group	South Africa	Undisclosed.
47	SWVL	Mobility	Egypt	2017	2022	5	IPO via SPAC (Nasdaq)	USA
48	Sky.Garden	Ecommerce	Kenya	2017	2022	5	Lipa Later Group	Kenya	Buy-out following bankruptcy
49	Giraffe	Recruitment	South Africa	2015	2021	6	Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator	South Africa	Undisclosed
50	WizzPass	Visitor Management	South Africa	2015	2021	6	FM:Systems	United States	Undisclosed
51	Conversio	Digital Marketing	South Africa	2014	2020	6	CM Group	United States	Undisclosed
52	Sendwave	Fintech (Cross-border payments)	Kenya	2014	2020	6	WorldRemit	United Kingdom	Acquired for $500m
53	Konga	Ecommerce	Nigeria	2012	2018	6	Zinox	Nigeria	$10m (Reportedly)
54	ParkUpp	Local Parking Marketplace	South Africa	2016	2022	6	Docklands Ventures	South Africa	Undisclosed
55	Buni.tv	Entertainment	Kenya	2009	2016	7	Trace Tv	Nigeria	Undisclosed
56	Baxi	Fintech (Digital agent network)	Nigeria	2014	2021	7	MFS Africa	South Africa	Undisclosed
57	Devcorp	Enterprise	Morocco	2014	2021	7	ABA Technology Group	Morocco	Undisclosed
58	Picup	Logistics	South Africa	2014	2021	7	Karooooo	Singapore	Acquired for $4.8m
59	CallPay	Fintech	South Africa	2014	2021	7	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	Acquired at a valuation of ($6.8m)
60	DabaDoc	e-Health	Morocco	2014	2021	7	Orange MEA; AXA CIMA	Morocco	Undisclosed
61	Luno	Blockchain	South Africa	2013	2020	7	Digital Currency Group (DCG)	United States	Undisclosed
62	OLX Africa	Classifieds	Nigeria	2012	2019	7	JiJi	Nigeria	Undisclosed
63	Filkhedma	Homes services	Egypt	2014	2021	7	SweepSouth	Egypt	Undisclosed
64	JUMIA	Ecommerce	Nigeria	2012	2019	7	IPO (Nasdaq)	USA
65	Accounteer	Accounting	Nigeria	2015	2022	7	Float	Ghana	Undisclosed
66	ParceNinja	Ecommerce logistics	South Africa	2013	2021	8	Imperial Logistics	South Africa	Undisclosed
67	Mobisol	Off-grid energy	Kenya	2011	2019	8	Engie	Kenya	Undisclosed
68	Tactful AI	Artificial Intelligence	Egypt	2016	2022	8	Dstny	Belgium	Undisclosed
69	UCOOK	Meal Kit Delivery	South Africa	2014	2022	8	Silvertree Holdings	South Africa	$12.3M
70	iHub	Innovation Hub	Kenya	2010	2019	9	CcHub	Nigeria	Undisclosed
71	Nafham	Social startup for free crowdsourced educational content	Egypt	2012	2021	9	Tyro	Egypt	Undisclosed
72	InstaDeep	Artificial Intelligence	Tunisia	2014	2023	9	BioNTech SE	Germany	$684M
73	GetSmarter	Edtech	South Africa	2007	2017	10	2U	United States	Sold for $103-million plus $20-million in cash.
74	Kapa Biosystems	Life Science	South Africa	2006	2016	10	Roche	Switzerland	Acquired for for $445-million
75	eLimu	Edtech	Kenya	2010	2020	10	CcHub	Nigeria	Undisclosed
76	Kngine	AI	Egypt	2008	2018	10	Samsung Electronics	South Korea	Undisclosed
77	Cheki (Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya)	Auto tech	Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya	2010	2021	11	Autochek	Nigeria	Undisclosed
78	QuickCash	Fintech	Côte d’ivoire	2010	2021	11	E-Settlement	Nigeria	Undisclosed
79	MainOne	Data center infrastructure	Nigeria	2010	2021	11	Equinix	United States	$320m
80	Retail Capital	Fintech (SME Funder)	South Africa	2011	2022	11	TymeBank	South Africa	Undisclosed
81	Fundamo City	Fintech (Mobile financial services)	South Africa	1999	2011	12	Visa	United States	Acquired for $110 million
82	Eventtus	Events management	Egypt	2012	2021	12	Bevy	United States	Undisclosed
83	Exchange4Free	Fintech (Cross-border payments)	South Africa	2008	2021	13	AZA Finance	Kenya	Undisclosed
84	DPO Group	Ecommerce	Kenya	2006	2020	14	Network International Holdings plc	United Arab Emirates	Undisclosed
85	Beyonic	Fintech (Payments)	Uganda	2006	2020	14	MFS Africa	South Africa	Undisclosed
86	Lawtrust	IT security	South Africa	2006	2021	15	Altron	South Africa	Acquired for $17m
87	Ubusha Technologies	Identity Security Solutions	South Africa	2003	2019	16	Altron	South Africa	Undisclosed
88	Quirk (Mirum)	Digital agency	South Africa	1999	2016	17	WPP	London, United Kingdom	Acquired for a reported R350 million to R400-million ($35million to $39 million) at the time of the sale.
89	Genric Insurance	Insurtech	South Africa	2005	2022	17	Old Mutual	South Africa	Undisclosed
90	Gumtree	Online Classified Ads	South Africa	2005	2022	17	Adevinta	Norway	Undisclosed
91	Okuhle Media	Digital media	South Africa	2003	2021	18	Trace	France	Undisclosed
92	orderTalk	Foodtech	South Africa	1998	2018	20	Uber Eats	United States	Undisclosed
93	SPEED	B2B e-commerce	Egypt	1997	2022	25	X-ERA	UAE	Undisclosed

Sell Exit tech startup Africa Sell Exit tech startup Africa Sell Exit tech startup Africa

A List Of Acquired Tech Startups In Africa

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 continent’s pioneers in this regard

Tunisian AI Startup InstaDeep Set For BioNTech SE Purchase At $684M

January 11, 2023

InstaDeep, a Tunisian and London-based enterprise AI firm that develops decision-making algorithms for real-world challenges, has agreed to be bought by BioNTech SE in a deal worth up to £562 million ($684 million), giving the German biotech a greater ability to use artificial intelligence and machine learning in its work.

According to Bloomberg, this is BioNTech’s largest transaction to date. It comprises an upfront payment of £362 million in cash and shares, as well as subsequent payments of up to £200 million if certain future milestones are met, according to the business.

BioNTech is forging on after collaborating with Pfizer Inc. to create the world’s best-selling Covid-19 vaccine. Before turning to the Covid injection, the firm focused on cancer, and it has long depended on powerful computation to help it adapt individualised vaccines to patients’ tumours.

The agreement will enable BioNTech to employ artificial intelligence in other domains, including manufacturing. Last week, the business also committed to collaborate with the UK government to treat 10,000 cancer patients by 2030, a project that will depend on health and genomes data to identify patients more promptly.

“Our aim is to make BioNTech a technology company where AI is seamlessly integrated into all aspects of our work,” Chief Executive Officer Ugur Sahin said in a statement.

BioNTech and InstaDeep, both based in London, began collaborating in 2019, and in November 2020, they committed to a multi-year relationship that included a joint innovation centre. For new Covid versions, the businesses created an early warning system.

In January 2022, the biotech company acquired an equity position in InstaDeep as part of the company’s Series B financing round. The acquisition will bring roughly 240 new employees to BioNTech. Before US exchanges opened, the company’s American depositary receipts traded little changed.

Started With Just $2K, Tunisian AI Startup InstaDeep Lands $100M From Google, BioNTech

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 continent’s pioneers in this regard

Tunisian AI Startup InstaDeep Sets Up First US Office In Boston

May 24, 2022

InstaDeep, a leader in advanced AI decision-making systems for tackling real-world challenges, has announced the opening of its first U.S. office in the dynamic Cambridge, Massachusetts Life Sciences Research and Innovation Center.

The new R&D base of InstaDeep will enable the AI startup to collaborate with the surrounding academic community and some of the world’s most inventive and prominent enterprises and organizations.

InstaDeep selected the Kendall Square Innovation District in the Boston metropolitan area, which has been regarded as “the most innovative square mile on the world,” due to the district’s high number of startups and the quality of innovation that has evolved in the area. It is the most recent addition to the AI company’s global network of offices, which spans from London to Paris and includes Tunis, Lagos, Dubai, and Cape Town.

Co-founder and CEO of InstaDeep, Karim Beguir, stated: “The opening of our first office in the United States is a major step in InstaDeep’s global expansion. The Kendall Square wave of AI and biotechnology innovation and new firms is very motivating, and InstaDeep looks forward to engaging with the Cambridge, Massachusetts community.”

Thomas Pierrot, head of research in the United States, who previously managed the company’s research team in Paris, will lead the office. His research combines bioinformatics, evolutionary techniques, and deep reinforcement learning. In addition to presenting findings at key AI conferences, Pierrot contributed to the development of InstaDeep’s DeepChainTM protein design platform and early warning system to discover probable high-risk variants of SARS-CoV -2, which were co-developed by InstaDeep and BioNTech.

During the grand opening of the new office, Karim Beguir held a fireside chat with Wade Roush, host of Soonish’s Deep Tech podcasts and MIT Technology Review, to discuss the history of InstaDeep and answer questions. inquiries from students, academics, and executives in the community of Kendall Square.

InstaDeep assists businesses in accelerating operations by leveraging AI technologies such as reinforcement learning, a type of machine learning that enables neural networks to rapidly learn from simulations and focus on the most effective optimization strategies for a variety of problems, such as therapeutic development, rail operations, etc. InstaDeep and BioNTech run a combined AI innovation lab that employs machine learning to explore new immunotherapies for a variety of malignancies and infectious disorders. In addition to working with Google on AI-related projects, InstaDeep has published joint research with DeepMind and Google Research. In addition, InstaDeep is collaborating with Deutsche Bahn, the largest rail operator and infrastructure owner in Germany, to automate rail routing.

The company formed in Africa, which has been listed among the world’s 100 most innovative startups by CB Insights for three consecutive years, will also use its new US location to mentor and teach students, providing them internships and part-time positions. while encouraging diversity and inclusiveness in the realm of artificial intelligence.

InstaDeep Boston InstaDeep Boston

E-Health Startup Zuri Plans Expansion and New Product Launch

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 continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh

Newly Funded Tunisian AI Startup InstaDeep Launches In The United States.

May 8, 2022

InstaDeep, a Tunisian business specializing in deep learning, will soon establish a presence in the United States. Karim Beguir, the company’s co-founder and CEO, has confirmed this in a statement.

As of today, InstaDeep has offices in six different countries, including Tunisia, the United Kingdom (UK), France, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Nigeria, and South Africa.

Karim Beguir,CEO InstaDeep — Karim Beguir, CEO InstaDeep

The company’s future US branch will be the company’s first office in North America. The startup market in the United States is vast, but it is also quite competitive. When InstaDeep enters this industry, they may be provided with more opportunities to scale.

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.

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.

Instadeep United States Instadeep United States

Started With Just $2K, Tunisian AI Startup InstaDeep Lands $100M From Google, BioNTech

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 continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh

Tunisian Startup, InstaDeep, Launches #IndabaGrandChallenge For The cure of Leishmaniasis

June 29, 2020

Tunisian startup, “InstaDeep”, which is in the top 100 of the best companies in Artificial Intelligence, co-organizes with the organization “INDABA”, a big challenge called “#IndabaGrandChallenge”, for the identification of a treatment for Leishmaniasis.

“Leishmaniasis is a neglected disease. As a disease of poverty, it has historically received limited funding for discovery, development and delivery of new tools. Current treatment is costly, lengthy, painful and sometimes toxic. At the same time, new drug candidates are being developed and old ones are being tested every day. Today, millions of drug activity assays are available at the press of a button. In this Indaba Grand Challenge, we dare to ask you to help identify amongst the already known, tested and (often) approved drugs, potential cures for different forms of leishmaniasis,” the startup said in a press release.

Here Is What You Need To Know

The organizers of this initiative are seeking, in collaboration with Deep Learning “INDABA”, to propose a new treatment, comprising a Leishmania protein (either of a defined species, or a protein present in the proteome of one or more Leishmania species) and a small molecule (or set of small molecules).
The initiative targets experts passionate about data science or Machine Learning, people active in “bioinformatics and pathformatics”, researchers, practitioners and clinicians of kinetoplastids as well as Universities, institutes and research organizations.
Leishmaniasis is a chronic disease with cutaneous and / or visceral manifestation, kills each year more than 50 thousand people in Africa, Middle East and Latin America.
It affects 12 million people in nearly 90 countries on our planet. Each year more than 2 million new cases appear.
The #IndabaGrandChallenge thus brings together civil society, the community of doctors, chemical epidemiologists but also datascientists, for a single mission: to find a medicine to cure this disease.

How To Apply

To know more about #IndabaGrandChallenge, including how to apply, click here.

About InstaDeep

Founded in 2014 in Tunis, Tunisia, by Karim Beguir and Zohra Slim, InstaDeep is now based in London and has offices in Paris, Tunis, Nairobi and Lagos.
The start-up applies deep reinforcement learning and other advanced machine learning techniques to create AI (Artificial Intelligence) systems that can help companies make better business decisions in the industrial environment, according to the same source.
The start-up InstaDeep has managed to establish an excellent reputation by providing “solid and unique” AI solutions.
It is one of the first African startups to publish original AI research at the conference on machine learning and computer neuroscience Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 2018).
The startup was also one of eight companies selected from the 84th international selection jury of Endeavor.
The Tunisian company has been ranked by the famous analysis firm CB Insights, which lists startups from 13 countries, in its top 100 of the best companies.

About INDABA

The Deep Learning organization “INDABA”, has the mission to strengthen machine learning and artificial intelligence in Africa.
The word INDABA indicates in the Zolo language, a gathering or a meeting to share and listen to the news of the community in Southern Africa and to consult on questions of common interest.

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