South Africa: DataProphet raises $6m funding round, led by Knife Capital
DataProphet has raised a $6 million series-A funding round led by Knife Capital, joined by the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) and Norican Group, a leading foundry engineering and equipment company. Two years ago, DataProphet received venture capital funding from Knife Capital to boost its innovation capabilities.
Founded in Cape Town in 2014, DataProphet is a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) that enables manufacturers to step towards autonomous manufacturing. Its AI-as-a-service offering proactively prescribes changes to plant control plans to continuously optimise production without the expert human analysis that is typically required.
The funding will be used to strengthen the operational footprint of DataProphet internationally and fast-track the strategy of growing through and with its strategic partners across geographies and industry verticals.
Earlier this year a partnership between Norican and DataProphet was announced to accelerate the adoption of AI in the foundry industry. The partnership followed a number of joint innovation projects carried out with Norican brand DISA, one of the leading suppliers of green sand foundry technology.
Anders Wilhjelm, CEO of Norican Group says, “Applying AI to the foundry industry will reduce energy consumption, increase yield and reduce waste. What started as a commercial cooperation with DataProphet, developed into a partnership, and now we will also become a shareholder. We know foundries and how they work, DataProphet really knows AI, so we are truly excited about what DataProphet and we can achieve together.” He noted that Norican is in the process of rolling out the DataProphet applications to its full brand portfolio.
“We are excited to continue to support DataProphet in this funding round. Since our initial investment in 2018, 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. The expansion capital allows DataProphet to prove out their offering on a global stage,” says Andrea Bӧhmert, managing partner at Knife Capital.
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