$500k pre-seed funding raised by Nigeria’s Simplifyd to boost data-free internet access
Simplifyd, a Nigerian startup aiming to become Africa’s go-to platform for data-free internet access, has acquired US $500,000 in pre-seed investment and announced the debut of ZeroData, its toll-free internet application platform.
Simplifyd, founded in 2020 by Tomi Amao, Mayowa Amao, Sam Keiru, and Abiola Fajimi, intends to address the issues of obtaining inexpensive data in the face of the soaring pace of data consumption, particularly among mobile and online app users in growing countries across Africa.
Future Africa and Y Combinator have both given the firm over US $500,000 in pre-seed capital, with the latter arriving after Simplifyd was accepted for the W22 batch of the famed Silicon Valley-based accelerator with a slew of other African entrepreneurs.
It has also announced the launch of ZeroData, which was founded by co-founder and CEO Tomi Amao out of a strong desire to address Africa’s alarming data affordability problem, as well as a goal to enable broader digital inclusion throughout the continent.
“ZeroData is designed to cater to both users with active data plans and those with none. For users with an active data plan, their data plan isn’t consumed when they make use of the application. Our app also enables users with no active data plans to enjoy uninterrupted access to the internet apps listed on the platform,” he said.
“For us, the realisation that Africans pay the highest rate for mobile internet in the world proportional to income is worrying. This is a significant challenge that we are happy to solve sustainably through the launch of ZeroData. We are creating a convenient platform to access the internet away from the challenge of huge data consumption for the continent’s growing number of Internet users.”
Users merely need to download the ZeroData app, which is accessible for both Android and Windows (MacOS and Windows). This gives them data-free access to the applications and websites on the list. Businesses may also bundle data with their apps on the ZeroData platform to make them more accessible and data-free for those who need it most.
