South African VC Kalon backs AI powerhouse visionAI

Kalon said the funding will fuel visionAI’s growth. Image: AI Lab

Kalon said the funding will fuel visionAI’s growth. Image: AI Lab

Published Oct 23, 2024

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South African venture capital firm Kalon Venture Partners has invested in visionAI, a leader in artificial intelligence and computer vision solutions.

The amount of the investment was not disclosed.

visionAI is the brainchild of the leaders at Mint Technology Group, a leading global Microsoft partner recognised within the top 1% of Microsoft’s Global AI systems integrators.

Kalon said the funding will fuel visionAI’s growth as it continues to transform not only the manufacturing and supply chain sectors, but also a wide array of industries through its innovative AI-driven technology.

“visionAI has been making waves by helping manufacturing and supply chain operations leverage their existing CCTV camera feeds with visual AI to track business critical metrics that lead to increased productivity, cost savings and reduced operational risk. The partnership with Kalon Venture Partners will further empower visionAI to redefine the use of AI in these sectors,” it said.

Trevor Ahier, the chairperson and Co-Founder of visionAI, said, “We are delighted to welcome Kalon Venture Partners on board. Their investment highlights the substantial impact our visual AI technology is already making across South Africa, the UK and Australia, while signalling the immense growth potential ahead. Together, we look forward to advancing AI innovation to further enhance operational efficiency."

Kalon, which was launched in 2016, is known for investing in innovative, high-growth companies and says visionAI aligns perfectly with their strategy.

Leron Varsha, the acting CEO of Kalon Venture Partners, highlighted the disruptive potential of visionAI, saying, “visionAI is set to transform the visual intelligence landscape. The combination of their exceptional team and innovative technology positions them as leaders in the AI space. We are thrilled to support their growth journey.”

Kalon’s portfolio includes companies at the forefront of innovation, scaling globally and driving change across industries.

It looks at investing in companies that will most likely operate initially in South Africa with the intention to scale them to Africa and globally. It targets potential returns of a minimum of five times the money, or internal rate of return of greater than 30% on each investment.

According to Kalon’s website its investment portfolio consists of:

– Talk360 is the leading international voice calling app allowing affordable and reliable international calls to any offline landline or mobile phone in the world.

– GoMetro is a Mobility Management Super Platform that enables public transport and fleet operators to boost operational efficiency, future proof their services and tighten their competitiveness.

– iXperience partners with high schools, universities and the corporate sector to build progressive education programs and services for the future of learning.

– cARscan is an Augmented reality app embedded with Artificial Intelligence that captures an accurate condition of the car, detects damages in it, and generates competitive quotes to fix the damages

– Mobiz is a user-friendly enterprise tool that allows businesses to create beautiful, personalised and targeted digital marketing campaigns within minutes.

– endmarc helps protect your staff, your customers, and your brand from email phishing and impersonation attacks – ensuring that only you can send email from your domain.

– Flow is a Proptech company that goes straight to the source of the largest social platforms in the world - to match people with property. Flow automatically creates highly targeted Facebook and Instagram ads out of agency and landlord listings and instantly delivers buyers, sellers and tenants leads

– FinChatBot develop chat bots to help financial service providers acquire & retain customers thanks to AI-powered conversations.

– Ozow is an AEFT (Automated Electronic Fund Transfer) payment solution for both buyers and merchants that allows for secure and instant payment on all smart mobile and desktop devices.

– SnapnSave is South Africa’s leading cashback coupon app that gives shoppers cashback on their favourite products, wherever they shop, just by snapping a photo of their till slip.

BUSINESS REPORT