Samasource has raised $14.8 million from a Series A funding round led by Ridge Ventures. Other investors that participated in the funding round include Social Impact Ventures, Bestseller Foundation, and Bluecrest Limited Capital. The company aims to use the sum in scaling Artificial Intelligence technology in East Africa.
Founded in 2008 by Leila Janah in 2008, Samasource is an AI and data company headquartered in San Francisco with operation centers in New York, Hague, Kenya, and Uganda. Samasource offers AI-enabled technologies such as autonomous transportation, e-commerce, and communications to top companies in the United States.
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Some of its prominent clients include Google, Walmart, and Ford. Samasource’s primary source of revenue is through machine learning data annotation and validation services. It offers AI data for global companies while empowering youths in East Africa.
“A big part of our values is offering living wages and creating dignified technology work for people. We hire people from low-income backgrounds and offer them training in AI and machine learning,” says Leila Janah, CEO of Samasource.
Samasource is to Artificial Intelligence what Andela is to Software developers. The company trains and hires East African youths in Artificial Intelligence technology. Therefore, it will use the newly acquired funds to upgrade the features of its platform and digital training centres in both Kenya and Uganda.
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