Asoko Insight Secures $3.6 Million in Series A Funding Round

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Asoko Insight, Africa’s most comprehensive corporate information platform, has completed a $3.6 million Series A fundraising round, as it moves into the next stage of its pan-African expansion plan.

Early shareholders, including North Base Media, CRE Venture Capital, Singularity Investments and Lateral Capital participated in the round, joined by new participants including LC Partners, Spice Fund, and Zephyr Acorn. The round was oversubscribed by 20%.

The company will use the new funding to deepen its product offering to compliance professionals, expand its African footprint and build out its technology to support scaling data collection, analysis, and delivery.

“Tackling Africa’s corporate data gap comes with unique challenges. Since Asoko’s launch four years ago, we have successfully bridged these by aggregating and enhancing corporate data sets, developing a tech-enabled collection and delivery platform and establishing strong brand recognition among core suppliers and clients. Our next step is guided by what our clients want: more coverage, in particular on ownership and network linkages” says Rob Withagen, Co-Founder & CEO.

The fund-raise follows a strong 2017 for the company in which both the number of companies and countries covered doubled and global players including Goldman Sachs, UBS, HB Fuller and Deloitte subscribed. Asoko also concluded a string of strategic partnerships, including one with London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), PwC and CDC Group to develop the 2018 edition of Companies To Inspire Africa.

“Asoko’s information services provide clients with critical insights into business segments and markets in Africa. We were excited to participate in this funding round, which will dramatically expand the scope of Asoko’s coverage and improve the transparency of markets in Africa for Asoko’s clients,” says Stuart Karle, a partner in North Base Media and member of the Asoko board.

Julien Riant and Charles-Henri de Mortemart, partners at incoming investor LC Partners, added: “We are proud to work with the Asoko team who has developed a unique corporate information offering for Africa. We strongly believe in Asoko’s product roadmap and its contribution to the global visibility of robust, African businesses in key African economies.”

About Asoko Insight

Asoko Insight was established in 2014, has its headquarters in London and operates through research bases in Accra, Lagos, Nairobi, Addis Ababa and Abidjan. It collects and analyses African company information at scale through several channels, including technology, partnerships with in-country data repositories, and teams of research analysts and data services personnel across Africa.