- Cape Town based advanced analytics company, Locstat, has secured undisclosed amount of funding from Grindstone Ventures.
Founded in 2016, Locstat enables customers to unlock previously unseen insights with their graph-based AI solution analysing the relationship between data points and beyond, which enriches the data set used for analytics to inform better decision making.
The technology assists with functions such as fraud detection; customer journey mapping, including customer 360°; customer segmentation & recommender systems; rules engine and geospatial analytics, all in real-time. Furthermore, this is done as a light touch implementation without adding significant additional overheads.
According to co-founder Sanjay Daya, the real power is in the graph-based AI functionality, which turns hidden information into valuable insights. It does this by analysing relationships between the data points and data sets. He continues, “This is where the real ‘data value’ resides—and this is what graph database capability does so well,” says Daya.
Our ability to produce insights in real-time allows customers to solve complex problems, which they were previously unable to do.
Locstat’s technology combines data from multiple sources into a single environment which makes it easy for organisations to derive real-time insights into their business that may have otherwise been missed. Locstat uses AI to augment graph technologies, and this allows the system to focus on relationships, not just data points, which cannot be done with legacy database technologies. This is what differentiates Locstat from the current solutions available in the market: their ability to provide holistic insights into a business which allows business owners to ask more complex questions.
Locstat is an alumnus of Grindstone, a structured entrepreneurship development programme that assists high-growth innovation-driven companies. The programme helped the founders to establish the framework they needed for sustainable growth and to attract the right funding. According to Locstat founders, being in a relationship with Grindstone introduced them to a supportive ecosystem that nurtured their scale. The Grindstone Programme and having an aligned value system between founders is what allowed them to flourish.
“We are pleased to continue our journey with Grindstone and appreciate their continued faith in Locstat. We are well on our way with our scaling ambitions and based on recent traction are exceeding our own expectations and confident that we will continue to add value to our customers.” Ryno Goosen CEO & CoFounder commented.
Catherine Young, Managing Partner of Grindstone Ventures added “We are excited to have Locstat join our portfolio of investee companies, as graph-based AI processing functionality turns information into valuable insights, and is one of the fastest growing trends in the area of data. We believe Locstat will change the way companies solve complex problems in real-time.”
Grindstone Ventures, a recently launched female-led fund, with pioneering support from the SASME Fund, as the first Limited Partner in the fund, now has six portfolio companies in their fold, including AgrilogiQ, Welo Health, Matter Industries, Drive to Own, Sticitt and Locstat.
Ketso Gordhan, CEO of the SA SME Fund, said: “We chose to support this fund because we believe it will fill a vital gap in the post-seed market. As a fund, it is as innovative as the startups that it will fund. The team is deeply experienced, has a proven track record and we are excited about the opportunity and impact that they will have in this market. Watch this space.”
