Joseph Rutakangwa spent eight years looking for tools to help business collect consumer insight data.
Eventually, he decided to simply build them.Now his start-up, called Rwazi, has actually raised a $12 million Series A led by Bonfire Ventures to help business with market intelligence and customer insights.
He established the company in 2021 with co-founder Eric Sewankambo.There was an abundance of consumer and market-level information for places like the U.S., U.K., and a couple of parts of Western Europe, possibly some traces in Canada and Australia.
But when it concerned global markets, consisting of financial giants like India, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Turkey, and China, there was absolutely nothing functional, he told A Technology NewsRoom.
No real picture on consumption, what customers wanted, or how their behavior was shifting.At first, he believed to fix the problem by buying statistics from government trade agencies.
Eventually, he discovered that data to be dated, fragmented, or sometimes simply nonexistent.
He then turned to purchasing customer reports and discovered them typically incorrect or difficult to prove.The service wasnt surveys.
It wasnt panels.
It was what we now call zero-party data; intake data thats willingly shared by the customer, within their own routines, recorded using sophisticated recognition and verification systems, throughout any area, in genuine time, Rutakangwa said.Via their startup, the set wound up developing an AI-powered intelligence software application system that lets services have real-time visibility into their consumer markets.
It helps forecast customer habits and recognize important areas to take notice of, which, in turn, can help reduce the expense of customer acquisition and boost customer commitment.
Rwazi clients include leading consumer business such as Coca-Cola, Pampers, Visa, and Nestl, per Rwazis website.The company previously raised a $4 million seed round in 2022, likewise led by Bonfire Ventures.Techcrunch eventSan Francisco|October 27-29, 2025Rutakangwa described the fundraising process this time around as selective, saying he and Sewankambo focused on finding the ideal partners, those who deeply comprehended the problem.
Other financiers in this round consist of Santa Barbara Ventures, Newfund, and Alumni Ventures.Rwazi said it will use the fresh capital to scale its AI co-pilot to assist its clients make more accurate real-time choices.
It also hopes to employ more engineers.
It presently pulls data from 190 countries, with clients mainly in the U.S.
and Europe.
The objective, as Rutakangwa stated, is to continue developing facilities that catches the developing world of customer data.Rwazi does have competitors, including from legacy consumer insights business GFK and Ipsos.
Rutakangwa stated Rwazi is various from its competitors due to the fact that it doesnt rely on designed or inferred information.
Rather, its own infrastructure permits insight and execution; knowing what to do and what to do about it, he continued.Winning today indicates preparing for shifts, seeing around corners, and making positive relocations before the competition even senses a change, he said.