South African AI Startup Verascient Raises $1.2m to Scale Enterprise Platform

South African artificial intelligence startup Verascient  has raised $1.2 million (about R19.5 million) in an pre-seed funding round as it moves to expand its enterprise AI platform and increase deployments among businesses.

Verascient develops AI solutions designed to help organisations make better use of institutional knowledge that is often scattered across emails, spreadsheets, meeting records and legacy software. The startup builds customised workflows and AI agents that can be integrated into the day-to-day operations of its customers.

The company is initially focusing on sectors including financial services, insurance and logistics, where large volumes of operational and customer information need to be accessed and managed across multiple systems.

At the core of Verascient’s technology is a temporal knowledge graph, which enables the platform to track how organisational information changes over time while preserving data provenance, existing access permissions and historical context. The company also works directly with client teams to develop and deploy AI solutions aimed at improving areas such as revenue generation, operational efficiency and customer experience.

The latest funding round attracted backing from Founder Collective, Andrena Ventures, Cambridge Enterprise and Summit Ventures, alongside angel investors Alan Knott-Craig and Shayne Mann.

Verascient was founded by Emile Ferreira, who serves as chief technology officer, and Keagan Stokoe, the company’s chief executive officer. Ferreira previously worked as an early developer at Replit and holds an MPhil in Advanced Computer Science from the University of Cambridge. He also developed an on-device AI assistant while still in high school.

Stokoe previously served on the founding team of Fibertime and founded AI consultancy Purple Dorm, bringing experience across technology, artificial intelligence and business development.

Verascient plans to deploy the new capital toward strengthening its technology capabilities, expanding enterprise deployments and hiring specialised engineering talent in South Africa.

The funding represents another investment in South Africa’s growing enterprise AI ecosystem, as businesses increasingly look to deploy AI tools that can work with their existing data, systems and operational processes rather than relying solely on standalone applications.