Market Intelligence Startup Rwazi Raises $12M to Enable Global Consumer Insights

Rwazi has secured a $12 million Series A round to help companies with market intelligence and consumer insights.

Bonfire Ventures led the round with participation from Santa Barbara Ventures, Newfund, and Alumni Ventures. 

Rwazi will use the fresh capital to scale its AI technology, hire new talent, and expand its customer base.

Rwazi is Plugging The Consumer Data Gap

The startup, co-founded by Joseph Rutakangwa and Eric Sewankambo in 2021, helps global brands understand consumer behavior using AI-powered data from 190 countries. Emerging markets, such as India, Brazil, Turkey, and certain parts of Africa, often lack timely and reliable consumer data.

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“There was an abundance of consumer and market-level data for places like the U.S., U.K., and a few parts of Western Europe, maybe some traces in Canada and Australia. But when it came to international markets, including economic giants like India, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Turkey, and China, there was nothing usable,” Rutakangwa told TechCrunch. “No real picture on consumption, what consumers wanted, or how their behavior was shifting.” 

The startup is not only the brainchild of Rutangwa but a product of his lived experience. He spent eight years looking for tools to help companies gather consumer insight data. Initially, he considered solving the issue by purchasing statistics from government trade agencies. 

However, he eventually found that the data was outdated, fragmented, or sometimes simply nonexistent. He then turned to buying consumer reports and found them to be often inaccurate or difficult to verify. Since Rutangwa couldn’t find any credible solution, he decided to build them. 

“The solution wasn’t surveys. It wasn’t panels. It was what we now call zero-party data; consumption data that’s voluntarily shared by the consumer, within their own routines, captured using advanced validation and verification systems, across any location, in real time,” Rutakangwa explained.

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An Infrastructure For an Evolving World of Consumer Data

The platform is an AI-powered intelligence software system that lets businesses have real-time visibility into their consumer markets. The AI startup helps predict consumer behavior and identify key areas for focus, which, in turn, can help reduce customer acquisition costs and enhance customer loyalty. 

Current customers include top consumer companies such as Coca-Cola, Pampers, Visa, and Nestlé, per Rwazi’s website. The company previously raised a $4 million seed round in 2022, bringing the firm’s total fundraise to $16 million. 

Rwazi will use the fresh capital to scale its AI co-pilot, enabling clients to make more accurate real-time decisions. It also hopes to hire more engineers. It currently pulls data from 190 countries, with customers primarily in the U.S. and Europe. The goal, as Rutakangwa said, is to continue building infrastructure that captures the evolving world of consumer data. 

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Rwazi does have competition, including from legacy consumer insights companies GFK and Ipsos. But Rutakangwa said Rwazi is different from its competitors because it doesn’t rely on modeled or inferred data. Instead, its own infrastructure allows for insight and execution; knowing what to do and what to do about it, he continued. 

Main Image: Rwazi cofounders Joseph Rutakangwa left and Eric Sewankambo right. Image Credit: Rwazi