Amini, Aiming to Deliver Life-Changing Data in Africa, Launches Amini Lite
"This is our first attempt to provide something directly to developers and data analysts," the AI-driven data startup says.
Nairobi-based startup Amini, which combines artificial intelligence (AI) with machine learning to deliver data-led insights to improve the lives of people on the ground in Africa, has announced the launch of Amini Lite — a lighter-weight version of its platform, delivering curated data for everything from crop health monitoring to water stress analysis.
"This is our first attempt to provide something directly to developers and data analysts, especially those looking to quickly integrate highly technical datasets (e.g., geospatial data from satellite imagery or remote sensing) without the pain of working with specialist geospatial tools," Amini claims of its new platform. "Amini Lite is a return to our roots. We are developers and engineers who want to build incredible tools for other developers. Our hope for this platform is that we will build and grow together."
Founded by Kate Kallot, Amini was founded with a vision to solve what Kallot describes as Africa's "data scarcity" — using her experience at companies including Arm, Intel, and NVIDIA to offer the same sort of high-quality data-driven insights those in North America, Europe, and other regions take for granted. "Data is the start of any economic revolution," Kallot told TIME Magazine last year. "Our thesis is that one of the reasons why the continent hasn't been able to develop itself as fast as the Global North is because of the lack of data."
Amini Lite is part of that vision, aiming to deliver an accessible platform for requesting data on regions of interest. "If you only have a quick query on the potential location of a reforestation project or want to run more in-depth analysis to provide accurate fertilizer use advice for farmers across an entire county, the platform moves with you," the company claims. "We aim to provide richer data for better decision making through the continuously growing data catalog."
The new platform is now live, with a roadmap promising additional features to come including a software development kit (SDK), addition datasets, a browser-based mapping system for visualization of areas of interest, code samples for rapid application development, and AI-driven tools for analysis.
Interested parties can sign up to use Amini Lite now on the company's website; Kallot also spoke on Amini's goals at the Hackster.io Impact Summit 2023.