Afriskaut 🏃🏽‍♂️‍➡️⚽️

Setting the Scene

African athletes have long shone on the global stage—from Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid in the NBA to Victor Osimhen and Mo Salah in European football.

Their journeys are a testament to the potential that exists across the continent. Yet, many young African athletes still face significant barriers to reaching the global spotlight. Despite their undeniable talent, African athletes often struggle with:

• Limited Exposure: Scouts frequently overlook African talent due to a lack of visibility.

• Scarce Resources: Many athletes lack access to advanced training facilities or networks to showcase their abilities.

• Missed Opportunities: Promising athletes often remain untracked and unnoticed, unable to connect with global clubs or leagues.

Why does this happen?

Africa’s fragmented sports infrastructure leaves many athletes without the exposure they need to reach the next level. Scouts and clubs often bypass Africa due to limited data and the absence of centralized platforms for tracking young talent. As a result, many players with potential slip through the cracks.

Despite the rise of African superstars like Didier Drogba, Mo Salah, Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the path from grassroots talent to international stardom remains fraught with challenges.

• Fragmented Ecosystems: Many regions in Africa lack organized youth sports leagues and scouting programs, resulting in missed opportunities for talented athletes.
  

• Limited Data Access: The global sports industry depends on data to scout and recruit talent, yet African athletes often play in environments where data collection is minimal or nonexistent.
  

• Scouting Barriers: Without a centralized platform, clubs and scouts struggle to discover and track emerging talent in African countries.
  

• This week’s company is bridging that gap, empowering African athletes to pursue their dreams of playing in global leagues.

In a Sentence

Afriskaut is an AI-powered, sports scouting platform that connects African athletes with international leagues and scouts, providing them with exposure, resources, and the opportunity to pursue professional careers.

• Talent Discovery: Afriskaut identifies rising stars in football and basketball across Africa, offering them a path to professional opportunities abroad.
  

• Scouting Network: The platform facilitates connections between athletes and scouts from major leagues in Europe, the US, and Asia.
  

• Analytics & Development: Athletes receive feedback, training, and exposure through a data-driven platform, giving them the tools they need to succeed at the highest level.

A “bridge” version:

Afriskaut is building the bridge between African athletes and global opportunities by connecting them with scouts and clubs from major leagues, ensuring that no talent is left undiscovered and offering players a chance to shine on the international stage.

The Basics

• Industry: SportsTech, Data Analytics, Talent Management

• Headquarters: Lagos, Nigeria

• Employees: 10

• Year Founded: 2024

• Fundraising: Raised $650,000 from Akuna Group and angels

• Early Traction: 50+ players placed, 300+ clubs engaged, and data collected on 15,000 players across five leagues

• Business Model: B2B data sales to clubs and agencies, agency services for player transfers

  
  

  
  

Due Diligence

WHAT WE LIKE

• 🚀 Mission-Driven: Afriskaut isn’t just about profit. It’s about empowering African athletes by giving them the tools and visibility to succeed on the global stage
  

• 💡 Market Potential: The sports market in Africa is poised to explode, with football leading the charge. Afriskaut’s platform taps into this multi-billion dollar industry by providing the infrastructure for data collection and analysis
  

• 💻 Technology-Driven: Afriskaut’s use of video-based data collection ensures accurate and transparent assessments of player performance, which is critical for agents and clubs.
  

• 📈 Early Traction: With over 15,000 players already on the platform and multiple successful placements, Afriskaut is showing strong early momentum.

POTENTIAL RISKS

• 🔍 Data Collection at Scale: Expanding the platform’s reach to cover more players and leagues will require significant investment in infrastructure and partnerships.
  

• 🧲 Player Retention: As the platform grows, ensuring that the best players stay within Afriskaut’s ecosystem could be a challenge, especially with competitors offering similar services.
  

Founder Profiles

• Nnamdi Emefo, Co-founder & CEO:

  A former athlete and scout with deep connections in African and European sports networks. Nnamdi, a Covenant University engineering graduate, founded Afriskaut to bridge the talent gap between African players and global opportunities. His passion for football and data-driven talent management ensures young African athletes have access to cutting-edge scouting tools.
  

• Josh Osazuwa, Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer (CTO):

  Josh Osazuwa is a tech enthusiast with a background in software engineering and data analytics. With over 7 years of experience, Josh’s expertise in data analytics ensures Afriskaut provides real-time insights for scouts, bridging the gap between African athletes and the global sports market.
  

• Eby Emenike, Co-founder & Lead Agent:

  Eby, a former professional player turned agent, leverages her vast network to identify and represent top African football talent. Her deep industry knowledge helps guide young athletes through the complexities of the global sports market.

To request an introduction to the founders, respond to this email.

Comps

• Zone14.ai: A cutting-edge sports analytics platform that uses AI to track and analyze player performance. Like Afriskaut, Zone14 focuses on providing data-driven insights to help scouts and clubs make informed decisions, with a particular focus on regions that are traditionally underserved by advanced scouting technology.
  

• Hudl: An advanced platform used by athletes and teams to capture and analyze game footage. Hudl is widely used in American sports, football (soccer), and beyond, helping teams make data-driven decisions on player recruitment.
  

  

Why Afriskaut?  

 A Bridge for African Athletes 🏃🏽‍♂️‍➡️⚽️

• Afriskaut is more than a scouting platform; it’s a launchpad for young African athletes who dream of playing in major global leagues.
  

• From the dusty football fields in Nairobi to the hardwood courts in Lagos, Afriskaut is creating the pathways for the next generation of African superstars, just like the Giannis Antetokounmpos and Didier Drogbas before them.
  

• Afriskaut is the bridge that connects Africa’s raw, undiscovered talent with the global sports community, opening doors to a world of opportunity.
  

📢 EVENTS BOARD

Latitude59 Kenya Edition 2024 🇪🇪 🇰🇪

🎉🎉 Big News: We are excited to announce that the second edition of Latitude59 Kenya will take place on November 28, 2024, bringing together innovators, investors, and ecosystem builders from across Africa and Europe to discuss key topics such as startup growth, funding, and market entry strategies.

This November, Latitude59 joins forces with Tech Safari to open doors to East Africa and connect the international tech community. The event will offer an unparalleled opportunity to engage with leading founders, VCs, and policymakers from both continents, focusing on how European-African partnerships can drive tech innovation and investment.

“Latitude59 Kenya Edition 2023 was even bigger and more successful than we dared to hope. And this is just the beginning of our bigger vision of building a Global Village, bringing diverse communities together to make the tech world more human. Working on another continent was a new challenge for our team, but it was an amazing experience, well worth it, and we are so proud of what we put together,”.

- Liisi Org, the CEO of Latitude59.

 Learn more about Latitude59 | Get your tickets

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