DUBAI March 8th 2024 / EMURGO KEPPLE VENTURES (“EKV”) - EMURGO Kepple Ventures today announced an investment in AI marketplace company, bitgrit. This is the fifth investment initiated by EKV, a joint venture between EMURGO Africa and Kepple Africa Ventures
While the global AI market is valued at USD 328 billion in 2021 and projected to reach USD 1.4 trillion by 2029, access to this technology is still severely limited. Existing platforms either rely on in-house teams or cater exclusively to high-paying corporations, creating a monopolistic hold on AI solutions. This exclusionary practice stifles innovation and slows down the adoption of data science and AI, particularly in emerging markets. bitgrit addresses this critical issue by leveraging its unique Crowd-based AI as a Service (CAIaaS) model, connecting over 30,000 talented data scientists worldwide to provide tailor-made AI solutions to businesses of all sizes.
Through its AI Marketplace and $BGR token, bitgrit hosts competitions tailored to current market needs and incentivizes participation. Winning models from competitions are uploaded on its AI marketplace platform where businesses can easily access its APIs for very little fees, resulting in industry-grade AI models that outperform traditional in-house solutions and are created by its community of data scientists, driving efficiency across industries.
As a participant of Abu Dhabi's HUB71 accelerator in 2022, bitgrit benefits from a robust ecosystem supported by the Abu Dhabi government and has forged strong connections with key stakeholders in the region, including government entities.
Commenting on the investment, Yosuke Yoshida, CEO at EMURGO Kepple Ventures, stated, “In the era of Web3, the amount of data available to businesses is growing massively. To remain competitive, businesses must be able to analyze this data in real-time. This is where AI comes in. With AI-powered analytics, businesses can analyze vast amounts of data in real-time, providing valuable insights that can be used to optimize operations, marketing strategies, and decision-making. We strongly believe that Bitgrit will be taking a leading role in this space.”
Commenting on the investment, Kazuya Saginawa, CEO at bitgrit Ltd, stated, “bitgrit has a particularly strong data scientist community in India and Nigeria. Thehe investment and support from EMURGO Kepple Ventures will be very effective in further expanding the bitgrit community in Africa. We will use this opportunity to train data scientists in Africa, expand the bitgrit communityand collaborate with other startups in the EMURGO portfolio to increase the number of actual data use cases.”
Conclusion EMURGO Kepple Ventures investment in bitgrit is a commitment to harnessing technology to create a better world for all. Together, we believe in the transformative potential of democratizing AI access through Web3 and empowering businesses and individuals worldwide with the tools to thrive in the age of artificial intelligence.
About EMURGO Kepple Ventures:
EMURGO Kepple Ventures is a joint venture between EMURGO Africa FZCO (Dubai) and Kepple Africa Ventures (Singapore), to provide investment-based support for Web3 startups in Africa. We aim to create a better world by empowering businesses and people with a more transparent and efficient system backed by blockchain technologies. We aim to accelerate this transformation by creating more collaboration and synergies between Web2 and Web3 startups, and by catalyzing the capital flow from conventional businesses and financial institutions to Web3 startups in Africa.
About bitgrit:
bitgrit is an Abu Dhabi based company partnered with world-renowned startup accelerator Hub71 providing accessibility to AI solutions through its Crowd-based AI as a Service (CAIaaS) model. Founded in Tokyo, Japan in 2017 bitgrit’s dual mission is to democratize and bring community to AI. By connecting businesses with a global community of 35,000+ data scientists, bitgrit empowers organizations of all sizes to leverage its robust data science competitions platform, blockchain-powered AI Marketplace and recruitment pool to serve their specific needs.