Hi, welcome to Tech This Evening, an After-Work Tech Newsletter from Techparley Africa. Sure, there is a lot to unpack right now. Sit back, while I walk you through.
Top Story: Nigeria’s Decide AI, is Using Artificial Intelligence to Simplify Spreadsheet and Help Analyse Data Without Coding
Abiodun Adetona, a former software engineer at Flutterwave, noticed a persistent challenge, as colleagues from non-technical teams frequently struggled to extract insights from spreadsheets without technical help.
“I used to assist them [his colleagues] with pulling data from various sources every day for almost a year, it was hectic, and there was no easier way to do it than the technical way,” Adetona said.
This frustration led Adetona and a three-person team to build Decide AI in 2025, an artificial intelligence assistant designed to analyse spreadsheets through natural language prompts.
The platform’s interface feels immediately familiar to users of modern AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Gemini. Decide AI also connects to external data sources beyond local spreadsheet files, including Google Sheets, Metabase, Google Analytics, and Google Ads.
Other Tech News Stories You Should Read:
TeKnowledge and Microsoft Partner to Launch AI Skilling Initiative and Train 10,000 Nigerians. Read now.
Ricursive Intelligence Raises $300m to Automate Chip Design with AI. Read now.
Wadhwani AI Global and Smart Africa Partner to Advance Responsible AI Adoption Across Africa.Read now.
On Startup Spotlight:
South Africa’s Yazi Raises $1.6m Valuation to Scale WhatsApp-Based AI Research Platform
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.
Founded in 2022 by Mzwandile Sotsaka and Timothy Treagus, Yazi was created to address what the founders describe as a major gap in the research industry, which is the failure to leverage messaging platforms that billions of people already use daily.
“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.”
“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.”
Quadri Adejumo brings you all the details. Read here.
Also Read:
US Stablecoin Fintech, KAST Raises $80M Series A to Expand Global Dollar-Based Financial Services. Yakub Abdulrasheed brings us the details, here.
Quote of the Day:
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic.” – Arthur C. Clarke.
Thank you for joining me yet again this evening. Stay safe, and see you tomorrow for the next tech newsletter.
Best, Quadri
