It is an intriguing data from Summer 2023 YCombinator class: of the 218 startups the US-based accelerator is backing, about 159 are broadly AI-anchored companies. The Information wrote: “This year, more than 60% of the group—or 134 startups—are building applications or tools around artificial intelligence, mostly related to large-language models, according to YC’s startup directory. In past YC groups, the percentage of startups bucketed under “AI” has trended below 20%. The huge increase demonstrates the recent fervor from founders and investors alike for this hyped-up industry.” Tekedia Capital Syndicate invested in one of these startups.
Then the shocker: of these 218 companies, only three are coming from Africa (Nigeria, Kenya/Rwanda and Congo/US/Canada)
Finding a native AI-company is challenging in Africa. To balance our portfolio for the next edition of Tekedia Capital investment cycle, as there is just no way we can present the startups to members without an AI company, we resorted to shopping at Silicon Valley, and co-invested with YCombinator.
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But what is an AI company? But what is an AI company? In the simplest of terms, a company which applies the wonders of AI in any of the many things we do daily or in company operations, where AI becomes the catalyst to improve performance, reduce cost and accelerate innovation. Yes, you can have an AI application in your agro-business, retail business, ecommerce, etc. It is time for that transformation in Africa. If you are building a really good one, let me know
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Hello Mr. Ekekwe. I am delighted to read this from you. I am currently working on an AI-assisted sequence I will like to out forward for your consideration.
Hello Mr. Ekekwe. I am delighted to read this from you. I am currently building a really good AI-assisted sequence I will like to put forward for your consideration.