By Ogenyi Ogenyi,Uyo
A Nigerian artificial intelligence startup, building automation tools for small and medium-sized businesses, Ndara AI Technologies has announced the successful completion of the first phase of its pre-seed funding round, raising $30,000 from investors across Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
The funding marks an important milestone for the early-stage company as it prepares to officially launch its AI-powered business assistant designed to help SMEs automate customer conversations, increase sales conversions, and manage operations through WhatsApp and mobile technology.
Ndara.ai is developing an AI system that responds to customer inquiries instantly, recommends products, processes orders, follows up on abandoned conversations, manages inventory, and even conducts AI-powered customer voice calls — all without requiring business owners to manually respond to each message.
According to the company, the platform is targeted primarily at Nigeria’s fast-growing informal and SME sector, where many entrepreneurs rely heavily on WhatsApp and social media to conduct business but struggle with delayed responses, missed sales opportunities, and operational inefficiencies.
Speaking on the fundraising milestone, Edidiong Solomon Sunday, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ndara.ai, described the round as a validation of the company’s long-term vision.
“This pre-seed round is more than capital — it is belief. We are building infrastructure that empowers small businesses to compete at scale using artificial intelligence. Many SMEs lose customers simply because they cannot respond fast enough. Ndara.ai ensures they never miss a sales opportunity again.”
The investors in the round include angel backers from Nigeria and the UK who are betting on Africa’s growing AI adoption and the digitization of small businesses across emerging markets.
With the funds raised, Ndara.ai plans to finalize product development and infrastructure scaling, expand beta testing with early business adopters
,strengthen its AI training models for localized Nigerian use cases, grow its technical and product team and prepare for a broader public launch
Nigeria’s SME sector contributes nearly half of the nation’s GDP, yet many small businesses still operate without automation tools or structured digital infrastructure. Ndara.ai aims to bridge this gap by offering an accessible AI solution that requires no technical expertise and no upfront software fees.
The company operates a “pay-per-sale” model, where businesses only pay a small service fee when a successful transaction occurs — lowering the barrier to AI adoption for small business owners.
As AI adoption continues to expand globally, Ndara.ai positions itself as part of a new wave of African startups building localized AI infrastructure tailored to the continent’s unique business environment.
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