SA Startup Xineoh Raises Additional USD 500 K In Series A Funding
South Africa’s artificial intelligence startup Xineoh has announced the closure of an additional non-brokered private placement equity of USD 500 K. Combined with the funding for December 2018; the company has raised an aggregate amount of USD 1.5 Mn.
During its round one funding that took place in June 2017, Xineoh announced it had raised USD 2 Mn.
Information extracted from globenewswire.com reveals that the Company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to continue to develop and commercialize its market-leading AI platform.
The company which currently focuses on growing its team says the funding round which was wrapped up in early 2019 was oversubscribed adding that it attracted a behemoth of investors including seasoned investment banker Wade Flemons and Hans Hawinkels, who was instrumental in Naspers’ Tencent acquisition.
Xineoh is a tech company that develops a platform for predicting consumer behaviour with AI. The platform enables businesses to out-predict their competition hence giving them a much-needed chance to maximise efficiency and customer satisfaction.
The Bloemfontein-based company matches people with products, inventory with the business opportunity, prices with spending propensity as well as people with usage patterns. Forbes reports that algorithms such as Xineoh’s have been used by organisations such as Netflix and Amazon to custom-make products desired by different clients as well as cross-sell products.
Xineoh Chief Executive Officer Vian Chinner stated that his company offered a more practical alternative to solutions from more developed markets.
“It is impractical to get everything out of Silicon Valley. Something like AI requires some degree of consultation with the client. It is difficult to get this type of service from an operation that is a 27-hour flight away,” he said in a report by itweb.co.za.
“A leading tech company such as Watson in the United States is a bit like an F-16 fighter plane. It is highly efficient, but it has to take off in near perfect conditions for it to succeed,” said Chinner.
“By comparison, a MiG can take off on a dirt road and doesn’t need continual maintenance. At Xineoh, we have built a software platform for companies that might have unstructured, unclean data. It’s more robust and flexible and therefore more suited to the local market.”
Flemons revealed the reason why he settled on investing in Xineoh as the tech startup has shown characteristics of a business that will be successful in future.
“Xineoh’s experienced executive and engineering teams, its cutting-edge technology and the astounding results achieved by its algorithm to date are the major differentiators that will drive the value growth for its clients and shareholders,” he added.
Hawinkels, on the other hand, divulges that he invested in Xineoh because it offers an efficient way to help predict consumer behaviour. He also mentioned that the startup has a great management team.
“In addition, because Xineoh is able to analyse large quantities of data quickly and cost effectively, companies will benefit from such analysis and be able to better position their business or products and save costs in the process,” Hawinkels stated.
Chinner said Hawinkels had assisted Xineoh with building its team as well as highlighting potential clients for the company.
Featured Image Courtesy: Xineoh
