Joseph Rutakanga spent eight years searching for tools to help businesses collect consumer insights data. Eventually, he decided to build them.
Now called Rwazi, his startup has raised a $12 million Series A led by Bonfire Ventures, helping businesses with market intelligence and consumer insights. He founded the company in 2021 with co-founder Eric Swankambo.
“Some traces of Canada and Australia, including the US, the UK and some Western Europe, were rich in consumer and market-level data. However, there was nothing available for use when it comes to international markets, including economic giants such as India, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Turkey and China,” he told TechCrunch. “There’s no real picture of consumption, what consumers wanted, or how their behavior changed.”
At first he was thinking of solving the problem by purchasing statistics from government trade agencies. But in the end he discovered that the data was outdated, fragmented, or sometimes nonexistent. He then turned to buying consumer reports and found that they are often inaccurate or difficult to prove.
“The solution was not a research, it wasn’t a panel. It was what is now called zero party data. Consumers were voluntarily shared within their own routines and captured in real time using advanced verification and verification systems everywhere,” Rutakangwa said.
The pair have decided to build AI-powered intelligence software systems through startups that allow businesses to visualize real-time into the consumer market. This helps to predict consumer behavior and identify key areas of attention. This helps reduce customer acquisition costs and increase customer loyalty. Rwazi’s customers include top consumer companies such as Coca-Cola, Pampers, Visa and Nestle, according to the Rwazi website.
The company previously raised a $4 million seed round in 2022, which was also led by Bonfire Ventures.
Rutakangwa described the fundraising process as “selective” this time, saying that he and Sewankambo focused on “finding the right partner, people who have a deep understanding of the issue.” Other investors in this round include Santa Barbara Venture, Newfound and Alumni Ventures.
Rwazi said they will use fresh capital to scale AI co-pilots to help clients make more accurate, real-time decisions. They also want to hire more engineers. Currently, we have data from 190 countries and have customers primarily in the US and Europe. As Rutakangwa said, the goal is to continue building infrastructures that capture the evolving world of consumer data.
Rwazi has a competition including Legacy Consumer Insights Companies GFK and Ipsos. However, Rutakangwa said Rwazi is different from its competitors, as Rwazi does not rely on modeled or estimated data. Instead, its own infrastructure allows for insight and implementation. He continued, knowing what to do and what to do about it.
“Today’s victory means predicting shifts, looking around corners and moving confidently before the competition feels a change,” he said.
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