South Africa’s DataProphet Raises $6m For Global Expansion

DataProphet, a major provider of artificial intelligence solutions that enable manufacturers to implement autonomous manufacturing, has raised US$6-million in a new funding round.

The round was led by Knife Capital with the Industrial Development Corporation and the Norican Group, a foundry engineering and equipment company, also investing.

Earlier this year, DataProphet struck a partnership with Norican to accelerate the adoption of AI in the foundry industry.

DataProphet provides an AI-as a-service product called DataProphet Prescribe, which “proactively prescribes changes to plant control plans to continuously optimise production without the expert human analysis that is typically required”, the funding parties said in a statement on Monday evening.

The funding will be used to grow the operational footprint of DataProphet internationally and fast-track its strategy of growing its partner base around the world.

The funding round will allow DataProphet to develop locally located sales and support for customers and partners across the world, said CEO and co-founder Frans Cronje in the statement.

“South Africa will remain our engineering and operational hub as we have access to great talent. DataProphet, however, is an international business, with hubs located around the world,” Cronje said.

He said that to realise the full value of AI, manufacturers need to consider how the technology can be used in their smart factory plans. “These technologies are key to achieving the goals of Industry 4.0 and allowing manufacturing plants to be far more responsive to the market demands without incurring additional costs.”

This is not the first DataProphet funding round that Cape Town-based Knife Capital has participated in. It made its first investment in the company in 2018.

Managing partner Andrea Bӧhmert said: “DataProphet has emerged as a global thought leader in its field and, as such, is a prime example of the kind of cutting-edge technologies South African entrepreneurs are capable of developing with global relevance in a fast-growing market.”