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Yazi Investment Memo

Building Africa's fastest and widest reaching market research platform

Executive summary

Yazi is a market research platform designed for agencies conducting qualitative research in emerging markets, especially Africa. By integrating WhatsApp bots, Yazi provides unparalleled reach and engagement.

The platform solves key pain points faced by traditional digital research methods:

Captures more representative data by leveraging WhatsApp's 90%+ penetration rate in Africa

Drives higher response rates (3-10x over email/SMS) through real-time engagement

Enables more affordable data collection due to WhatsApp's low data costs

Allows flexibility in data types (text, images, video, voice notes) for deeper qualitative insights

Yazi is well-positioned to capitalize on the $700M market research industry in Africa, which is poised for rapid digitization. With strong early traction and a clear path to $5M+ revenue, Yazi presents a compelling investment opportunity.

💊 Current pain-point

Reaching people digitally in emerging markets is extraordinarily hard, especially when it comes to Qualitative Research.

Inadequate Engagement with Traditional Digital Methods:

Email-based surveys suffer from low response rates and fail to reach a significant portion of the population who lack email access.

Digital tools often miss lower-income consumers due to digital unfamiliarity and concerns over high data usage.

Challenges in Media-Rich and Multi-Day Studies:

Participants struggle with uploading media content and frequently forget to return for multi-day diary studies, leading to incomplete data collection.

Limited Reach and Non-Representative Sampling in Emerging Markets:

Current digital methods are ineffective in engaging a diverse demographic, particularly in emerging markets, resulting in non-representative samples and low overall response rates.

Inefficiencies in Diary Study and Focus Group Execution:

Participants often neglect diary entries due to lack of reminders and the inconvenience of app-based surveys.

Manual moderation of WhatsApp focus groups and diary studies is time-consuming, data-heavy, and leads to frustrating delays due to dependency on moderator availability and response times.

Benefits of Yazi and WhatsApp Integration:

Unparalleled Reach and Engagement: WhatsApp's penetration rate exceeds 90% in many African countries, offering a broader reach and significantly higher response rates (3x-10x) than traditional methods.

Efficiency and Real-Time Insights:

Streamlines the research process for client and participant, allowing for bulk messaging and custom link generation for participant recruitment in a single channel.

Flexibility and Depth in Data Collection: Supports various question types and media. WhatsApp enables greater access to qual data which is more insightful than quant and can be turned into quantifiable insights with AI.

Accessibility Across Socioeconomic Strata:

Low data costs associated with WhatsApp ensure broader participation in data-sensitive markets.

📊 Product

Yazi’s market research platform runs surveys, focus groups, and diary studies through WhatsApp, allowing for a much larger segment, faster insights, and personalised engagement.

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Group 1000006193.png

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📋 Features

💬 Form builder

Create multiple types of questions, use question routing, automatically generates survey in WhatsApp after launch

📈 Insights / Reporting

Interactive results dashboard, live connection

⛔️ Dynamic Access to Participants

Select qualification criteria in app, Survey shown dynamically in Menu (based on qualification), Send Template message invites, Retarget and notify

🔍 Participant Tracking

Pass/Fail participants, manage incentives and payments

🔥 Outcomes

Increase representativeness of sample, leading to more accurate data.

👉 Research more frequently: Cheaper & Faster turnaround time

👉 Reach your target audience: Bigger reach on WhatsApp

👉 Better decisions: Representative audience & accurate data

Timeline

Timeline

⁠

Roadmap list: Focused on Qual Research

Roadmap list: Focused on Qual Research

⁠

💳 Business Model

R15k

Once-off Setup fee

WhatsApp number setup with custom messaging and onboarding

R1.5k - R3.2k

Monthly pricing

Tiered based on conversation volumes. Full access to Bulk message, Reporting, Interviewing

R2k - R12k

Research project pricing

Project setup, testing, data cleaning. Additionally: Incentive management, survey design

🚀 Customer Acquisition & Growth Strategy

Who is our customer target?

🕋 Market research agencies

💼 11 - 200 employees

🌎 Based in Africa, India, UK, UAE or global with presence in Emerging Markets

🔬 Do qualitative or quantitative 1st party data acquisition research

💊 Struggle with completion rates and data accuracy in emerging markets

🧭 Current way: Use WhatsApp group for focus group and run manually OR use digital link tools like Dscout, Indeemo, Recollective

How are we selling to them?

🧑‍💻 SEO:

WhatsApp keyword⁠

and

Competitors alternative⁠

articles plus

Useful Data sources⁠

page

LI LinkedIn: Data content through Tim’s LinkedIn

📩 Outreach: Personalised cold email, LinkedIn message

👫 Partner content: Guest posting and writing in market research publications

Goals for 6 months

🧑‍💻 Website: Current = 1.2k pm traffic. Grow to 3k and convert 1% into clients.

LI LinkedIn: Current = 4.2k followers. Grow to 10k and convert 1% to clients.

📩 Outreach: Send 90 email pm, 90% open, 30% reply

👫 Partner content: Medium, MRS, Greenbook, Quirks about WhatsApp in research

🌍 Market Size

Competitor tools: Revenue, dealsize/pricing, # customer

⁠

⁠

How many would just use WhatsApp?

View of SAM: Bottom-up Market Sizing calc (Annual)

View of SAM: Bottom-up Market Sizing calc (Annual)

⁠

🔥 In last 12 months...

R1.1m

Revenue in 2023

R31.8k / R22k

Average deal-size / Median deal-size

17

Different clients

28%

Market research agency clients in 2023

1.2k

Traffic per month

140

Keywords in SA, 34 in US, Traffic growing with new site

Overall Roadmap

Overall Roadmap

Time period

Item

Team & Description

💰 Funding Ask

Yazi needs R200,000 to hit product milestone and be in position to sell the research product. Yazi’s existing business model

Old from 2022

🤳 Normal techniques are not going to work in Africa

Internet penetration is 43% compare to 67% in the rest of the world. (

Statista⁠

)

And, Sub Saharan Africa’s cellular data is 27% more expensive than RoW. (

Worldwide mobile data pricing⁠

)

5.4x less data used in Africa compare to North America. (

IFC⁠

)

Because of this, traditional online research techniques used to access consumers don’t work. Don’t take my word for it though....

👇

😭 Market research in Africa is broken...

→

Yazi is a market research platform that enables market research agencies to reach a representative sample in emerging markets. Yazi lets you target and retarget a consumer segment that is typically slow and expensive to reach. All through WhatsApp.

Access → WhatsApp is the app with the highest penetration in Africa (~96% of internet users in Kenya, SA, Nigeria). (

Statista⁠

)

A 20 question survey typically uses $0.01 of cell data to complete. Often free → subscribe to monthly WhatsApp bundle.

Many Africans possess a distrusting perception of software and online-earning activities. WhatsApp means; no need to go somewhere foreign on the internet or download a new app.

WhatsApp is sticky, allows frictionless onboarding and refer-ability → don’t need to learn new software and fits into an existing behaviour (comfortable) → fast response speed.

History of previous conversation → build trust with respondent and enrich consumer profiles overtime.

📈 Why now ??

LLM Developments enabling sophisticated analysis of qualitative data (open text, voice note and video) leading to increased spend on qualitative research.

60% of the population in Africa will be under 24 by 2025, and will be home to 1 in 3 youths (aged 15 to 35) globally by 2050

→ Growth in work population and digital adoption. (

IFC⁠

)

By 2030, Africa is expected to be home to over 1.7 billion consumers with total consumer expenditure of $2.5 trillion, a $570b increase.

→ More spending (

IFC⁠

)

In the next decade, the number of Internet users in Africa is expected to grow by 57.42m (11%)

→ Big opportunity for new digital products in Africa. (

IFC⁠

)

Last on the roadmap for most international startups, mainly because of infrastructure

→ Research facilitates growth and is a first-mover industry in tech-enabled growth.

Large customers and resellers pay a subscription fee. Remaining pay a per response usage fee.

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🥊 Competitors

View of Pricing comparison

View of Pricing comparison

⁠

View of Competitive benchmarks

View of Competitive benchmarks

⁠

👨‍👩‍👧 Team

Outline

Executive Summary

Brief overview of the business, including the problem it solves, the solution, and the target market.

Key highlights such as traction, team experience, and unique selling points.

Company Overview

Description of the business, its mission, and vision.

Details about the founders and team, including their backgrounds and relevant experience.

Market Analysis

Size and growth of the target market.

Market trends and dynamics.

Competitive landscape and the company's positioning within it.

Product or Service

Detailed description of the product/service, its features, and functionalities.

Current stage of development and future roadmap.

Any intellectual property or proprietary technology.

Business Model

How the company plans to make money (revenue model).

Pricing strategy.

Sales and distribution channels.

Customer Acquisition and Growth Strategy

Marketing and sales strategies to acquire customers.

Partnerships or collaborations.

Key metrics and targets for growth.

Traction and Validation

Any existing customers, pilot programs, or user feedback.

Revenue, user growth, or other key performance indicators.

Any notable achievements or milestones.

Financials

Historical financial performance (if applicable).

Projections for revenue, expenses, and profitability.

Breakdown of current financial needs and how the funds will be used.

Risks and Challenges

Identification of potential risks and challenges.

Strategies for risk mitigation.

The Ask and Use of Funds

Specific details on the amount being raised.

Terms of the investment (e.g., equity offered).

How the funds will be used and their impact on the business.

Exit Strategy

Potential exit options for investors.

Information on any previous exits by the team or similar companies in the industry.

Appendices (if necessary)

Supporting documents like customer testimonials, detailed financial models, product screenshots, or technology patents.

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