South African artificial intelligence startup, Yazi, has secured its first institutional investment round at a pre-money valuation of R30 million ($1.6 million), marking a milestone for the young company building research tools directly on WhatsApp.
The funding round was led by 3 Capital Ventures, an early-stage investment firm spun out of the South African asset manager Allan Gray. While the amount raised was not disclosed, the investment is expected to accelerate product development and support the company’s international expansion.
The startup says the capital will be used to develop new features, including automated voice interviews conducted through WhatsApp, while expanding Yazi’s research participant panel across Africa and strengthening its growing presence in international markets.
According to Timothy Treagus, Yazi’s chief executive officer, the company is already attracting strong demand from outside Africa.
“The US and UK aren’t markets we’re entering in the traditional sense, they’re finding us,” said Treagus. “We rank number one on Google for WhatsApp research keywords globally, and over 80% of our inbound leads now come through AI search, people asking ChatGPT and Gemini for WhatsApp research tools and landing on us.”
What you should know
Founded in 2022 by chief technology officer Mzwandile Sotsaka and Treagus, Yazi was created to address what the founders describe as a major gap in the research industry: the failure to leverage messaging platforms that billions of people already use daily.
The platform enables organisations to conduct AI-moderated interviews, surveys, diary studies and panel research directly through WhatsApp, eliminating the need for traditional research tools that depend on email access, smartphone app downloads or high-speed internet connections.
“We built Yazi because the research industry was ignoring the biggest communication platform on the planet,” said Treagus. “Traditional research tools that rely on app downloads, email addresses, and broadband just don’t work here. We’ve built the infrastructure to fix that.”
WhatsApp’s global scale makes it particularly attractive for research applications. The messaging platform is used by around 3.2 billion people worldwide, making it one of the most pervasive communication tools globally.
In South Africa alone, roughly 28 to 29 million people use WhatsApp, while in the United Kingdom the figure stands at around 41 to 42 million users. Adoption across Europe is similarly widespread, with approximately 33 million users in Spain and more than 50 million in Germany.
For Yazi, this means the company can build research infrastructure on top of an already established behavioural pattern rather than attempting to change how people communicate.
AI-driven interviews and research at scale
At the core of Yazi’s platform is an artificial intelligence system designed to replicate the work traditionally carried out by human researchers.
The system conducts natural conversations with participants, asks follow-up questions in real time, and probes deeper into responses, producing insights that resemble moderated interviews conducted by trained researchers.
The technology can also support multi-day research exercises such as diary studies, automatically collecting and analysing responses before generating transcripts, thematic summaries and presentation-ready insights.
With access to 1.8 million pre-qualified participants across multiple demographics and geographies, the company says it can deliver rapid feedback for organisations seeking product testing, market insights or policy research.
“We meet people where they already are,” said Sotsaka. “That’s why our response rates are fundamentally higher than traditional research, and why we’re reaching populations the industry has historically failed to access.”
Growing client base and international traction
Yazi’s momentum has been reflected in its recent financial performance. The company reported 2.5 times revenue growth over the past financial year, alongside 64% month-on-month growth during its most recent quarter.
Its client portfolio includes major South African organisations such as Old Mutual, Pick n Pay, Discovery Limited, Capitec Bank, and the global market research firm Ipsos.
International expansion is also gaining traction. More than 65% of the company’s revenue is now foreign-denominated, reflecting growing demand from clients in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.
Recent contracts highlight that momentum. Ipsos has signed a 12-month research tracker agreement, while Old Mutual is launching a quarterly research tracker programme using the platform.
Positioning for global scale
With the new investment in place, Yazi is positioning itself to scale its AI-powered research infrastructure globally while continuing to deepen its presence across African markets.
The introduction of automated voice interviews through WhatsApp, one of the product features currently under development is expected to further broaden the platform’s accessibility, particularly in markets where voice communication is often more natural than text.
As demand for faster, more inclusive consumer insights grows, Yazi’s founders believe the company’s decision to build directly on widely used messaging platforms could offer a major competitive advantage.
Rather than asking people to adopt new tools, Treagus said, the company’s approach focuses on bringing research to the platforms people already trust and use every day.
Talking Points
It is noteworthy that Yazi has built its entire research infrastructure on WhatsApp, a platform already used by billions globally. By leveraging a communication tool people interact with daily, Yazi removes the barriers that often limit participation in traditional research methods such as app downloads, email access, or stable broadband connectivity.
This approach is particularly relevant for emerging markets, where messaging platforms often serve as the primary digital gateway for millions of people. By meeting participants where they already are, Yazi is positioning itself as a practical solution for organisations seeking faster and more inclusive consumer insights.
At Techparley, we see how innovations like this reflect a broader shift in the research industry toward AI-powered, conversational data collection. Instead of static surveys, platforms like Yazi are introducing dynamic, AI-moderated interactions that can probe deeper into responses and generate richer insights at scale.
The company’s early traction, including clients such as Old Mutual, Pick n Pay, Discovery Limited, and Ipsos, suggests that large organisations are increasingly willing to experiment with new research infrastructure that prioritises speed, accessibility, and real-time analytics.
With the fresh backing from 3 Capital Ventures, Yazi now has the opportunity to strengthen its product capabilities, particularly with innovations like automated voice interviews on WhatsApp and potentially reshape how organisations conduct research in both developed and emerging markets.
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