Degas Ltd., one of the fastest growing agri-fintech startups in Africa, today announced that it has joined NVIDIA Inception, a program that nurtures startups revolutionizing industries with technological innovation.
Image displays Degas’ app and dashboard to leverage data collection
Degas is focused on providing financing to smallholder farmers in Africa, leveraging proprietary technologies, including an AI/ML-backed credit scoring model, to reach groups overlooked by traditional financial institutions. Degas is working to scale its business and realize its mission to increase the productivity and income of over 600-million smallholder farmers and to decarbonize the world from Africa, the continent most affected by climate change. To date, Degas has supported over 46,000 farmers and established one of the largest smallholder farmer networks in Africa.
Degas plans to leverage the resources available through NVIDIA Inception to further enhance its in-house deep learning solutions. The goal is to optimize the performance of its model inference and enhance existing products with AI capabilities via NVIDIA’s state-of-the-art technologies. Inception also offers Degas the opportunity to collaborate with industry-leading experts and like-minded organizations to further the company’s impact on smallholder farmers and the environment.
Yohei Nakayama, CTO of Degas Ltd. expressed excitement for the program, saying, “We are excited to join NVIDIA Inception, which will surely help accelerate our growth. With resources and opportunities that will be provided to us as part of the program, Degas will further its business focusing on leveraging human capital and technology to contribute to and realize a more resilient and sustainable agricultural landscape in Africa.”
NVIDIA Inception helps startups during critical stages of product development, prototyping and deployment. Every Inception member gets a custom set of ongoing benefits, such as NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute credits, preferred pricing on NVIDIA hardware and software, and technological assistance, which provides startups with the fundamental tools to help them grow.
