The $10 million Series A funding round for South African firm DataProphet, which utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to assist manufacturers to automate their processes, has already been completed.
When Frans Cronje and Daniel Schwartzkopff, two friends from the University of Cape Town, decided to leverage their expertise in artificial intelligence to launch their own company, DataProphet was born in 2014.
The company’s AI-as-a-service, DataProphet PRESCRIBE, has grown into an outstanding part of that business, proactive prescribing modifications to a manufacturing plant’s control plans to constantly optimize production without the usual need for expert human analysis.
The startup previously announced the initial US $6 million of its Series A round, which it had raised from IDC and Norican, back in 2020. It has since confirmed the round’s closure at US $10 million with additional funding provided by Knife Capital, which made its initial investment in DataProphet in 2018.
The financing gives DataProphet the resources to expand on its highly regarded industrial AI product suite while enabling focused expansion in certain manufacturing industries and geographical areas. With this capital behind it, the company’s expansion will be even hastened. Its clientele has already been extended to the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
“I am excited about the continued support DataProphet has received from Knife Capital. Going forward, we will use this additional funding to continue to accelerate and expand into new markets, build new relationships that are aligned with our machine builder strategy, and further our global expansion. Another important pillar is bringing in top talent to build on this momentum,” Cronje, CEO of DataProphet, said.
It is “wonderful,” according to Andrea Böhmert, partner at Knife Capital and executive chair of DataProphet, that the firm is now able to help DataProphet in its quest to become the foremost supplier of effective AI solutions for the industrial sector.
“The optimisation of manufacturing performance in the context of Smart Manufacturing is still in the early adoption cycle. The DataProphet team is world-class, as validated by the third-party recognition it receives, and as such perfectly positioned to further entrench its leadership position in this fast-growing sector,” she said.
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