Lengo AI, a Senegalese-based AI-driven Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) has raised a seven-figure pre-seed funding to develop its products and enter new African markets.
The funding round was co-led by early-stage venture capital firm Acasia Ventures and Ventures Platform and joined by P1 Ventures, Launch Africa, Voltron Capital, and a number of other VCs and angel investors.
Lengo AI disclosed that the funding will be used to expand its tech and sales teams, further develop the AI portion of the product, and expand to new markets.
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Speaking on the fund raised, the startup CEO Max A. Smith said,
“Lengo AI’s platform already provides near real-time market monitoring from a ground-level perspective for over 2,000 products. Now we are working on leveraging AI to connect at scale with the last node of the retail network the corner shops. We’re building a very low-friction technology with retailers and actively recruiting the best AI and software engineers.
“Thanks to the support from Acasia Ventures, we hope to gain expertise in Nigeria and Egypt, and accordingly, make the right connections in both countries to expand our product for shopkeepers and work with brands to stop guessing Africa.”
Founded in 2022 by Max Smith, Roger Xavier Macia, and Ismail Seck, Lengo is the first AI-driven intelligence Platform for FMCG companies in Africa.
The platform uses a hybrid approach of Lengo Eagles (field agents) and AI to connect retailers and FMCG companies with real-time performance data on the sales of products.
Lengo AI aims to provide intelligence and highly actionable insights to FMCG brands coming from the thousands of corner shops that make up 90 percent of purchases across the continent.
With Lengo, premium access to the largest database on consumer goods in the fastest-growing consumer market in the World is now just a subscription away.
By joining the Lengo Club, shopkeepers, who are at the heart of the social and economic fabric of African countries, can increase their revenues by benefiting from insights on customer behaviors, alerts on new products, and a loyalty point system.
On the corporate end, the startup helps local companies in the FMCG sector optimize their resources and provides purchasing behavior data to international companies aiming to invest in Africa.
Notably, Lengo AI was the first startup to map out corner shops selling FMCG products in Dakar and is in the process of mapping out an additional six cities. Today, Lengo AI has accounted for and mapped out over 30,000 corner shops.