Denis Opudo
Asoko Insight is a startup that offers data analysis on companies from Africa to global investors. It also works on helping corporate, African players and governments. Asoko was launched in 2014 with its headquarters in London. It operates through research bases in Nairobi, Lagos, Abidjan, Addis Ababa and Accra. The name ASoko comes from a Swahili word “SOKO” which means market. Letter “A” was used to stand for Africa. The startup announced its Series A funding worth $3.6 million. Therefore, the funds will be used to increase the company’s data collection capacity to handle more businesses in Africa. The startup currently has a total of $8 million of funding.
Asoko Insight also plans to use the funding in upgrading its technology. This will be used to support data collection and analysis. It will, in turn, expand Asoko Insight’s operations across Africa. The company stated that the Series A round of funding had a 20% over-subscription. CRE Venture Capital, Lateral Capital, Singularity Investments and North Base Media are the longest participants in Series A funding. The new participants were Spice Fund, Zephyr Acorn, and LC Partners.
According to Co-Founder and CEO Rob Withagen, getting corporate data in Africa is one of the challenging issues to accomplish. But Asoko has managed to bridge the wide gap since its launch. It has managed to aggregate and enhance corporate data set. Furthermore, the startup has come up with a tech-enabled collection and delivery platform while developing strong brand recognition with important clients and suppliers. The startup also upgrades its service delivery depending on the customer’s demand.
According to a partner in North Base Media who is also a member of the Asoko board, Stuart Karle, he said that Asoko’s data gives clients important insight into African business scene and markets. Asoko had a strong fundraising in 2017 and it doubled the number of both countries and companies it covers in that year. It also registered the subscription of global clients like Deloitte, UBS, Goldman Sach and HB Fuller. Moreover, it finished series of partnership. This included the one with CDC Group, London Stock exchange Group, and PwC. It was meant to come up with Companies to Inspire Africa for its 2018 edition.
