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The Founder Roundup
Financial literacy, AI datasets, and blockchain authentication
Welcome back to the Founder Roundup! A big thank you and welcome to all our new subscribers. If you haven’t reached out and introduced yourself yet, please do! I’d love to meet you.
We’re excited to announce that our voting web app is under construction! You all made the minimum viable product (MVP) of our voting system so successful that we’re building it out ahead of schedule. It will have much-improved tech and a lot of great features to help us continue to spotlight startups. We can’t wait to share it with you all!
– Luke
“It's okay to rest and take a break.
But don’t quit!”
On the latest episode of the Backseat Startup Podcast, I had Justin Chua, Founder of AI Starter on the show. A user asked how to navigate a side-hustle when your employment agreement forbids it. We also talked generally about how to manage your time working on a side-hustle while working full time.
Festus William Amoyaw of MyFig
Festus William Amoyaw, co-founder of MyFig, noticed a need for financial product education in Ghana. With a team experienced in Investment Banking, Digital Finance, and Software Engineering, MyFig is changing how people think about life insurance, investments, and pensions. Festus and the team were inspired by the positive impact of life insurance coverage and persevered through the ups and downs of starting a business.
What is MyFig?
MyFig is a digital platform that allows users to browse and access information from licensed companies in the life insurance, investment, and pension sectors. It was created to address the lack of information and fragmentation in the industry, as well as the low uptake of life insurance and difficulty in managing pensions in Ghana. MyFig aims to provide users with the necessary information to make informed decisions about their accounts and investments.
“MyFig gives me comfort that when people have a backup plan [such as life insurance] we’ll have less people going through the trauma due to lack of resources. More people will be able to care for their children, their family, and themselves even if they lose someone who provided the main income. It makes me worried that people don't know the value that life insurance can bring to them and their loved ones.”
Ansh Chaurasia of flockfysh
What is Flockfysh?
flockfysh is a platform built by AI researchers for AI researchers that expedites the process of building datasets while retaining the quality needed to build the next generation of AI models. It allows users to build a dataset in 2-3 days instead of 4-6 months, saving thousands of dollars in the process. flockfysh applies machine learning to build and label the remaining parts of the dataset after receiving a sample of what is needed in the images. It is especially useful for medical professionals who require expert attention to figure out what is in images.
Flockfysh’s Strategy
flockfysh is currently in private beta with a few trusted users. They plan to expand to a broader set of users and are accepting and looking to continue closely working with researchers and entrepreneurs to handle data. flockfysh differentiates from competitors by leveraging AI and ML models to build datasets, as opposed to manual tools. They plan to publicly open their beta in Q4 of 2023.
If you would like to join their private beta, sign up here.
“One of the big challenges with building AI models is gathering the data you need to build these models. It takes a lot of time and effort to understand the underlying patterns behind a large corpus of data. Prepping the AI models is a very time-consuming process and then it is still going to take even more time, 4-5 months, to build the datasets. It’s a major clog. The flockfysh platform expedites the process of building datasets while retaining the quality that we need to build the next generation of AI models.”
Wahab Ogunnaike of Regiz
What is Regiz?
Manual processes of handling documents and authentication procedures are outdated. A macro trend is that companies are looking for paperless and streamlined approaches for verification of applications and other certifications submitted by applicants. Regiz aims to provide a solution to this problem by making important documents easily accessible and acceptable for users in real-time by utilizing blockchain technology.
Regiz’s Strategy
Regiz is working on obtaining licensing deals to become authorized to complete document verification for users. This step is important for the successful implementation of the verification process and will provide a competitive advantage for Regiz. Obtaining licenses and adhering to government regulations is a top priority for the company. They plan to launch their MVP by April 2023 and beta test to refine their product and identify their target market.
“Regiz is the platform to verify the authenticity of documents so companies can be sure they are employing people who have actually passed through respective training. Documents are easily accessible on the blockchain to anyone with the link or chain ID. Employers can quickly establish if an applicant from another geographical location has truly received this certification, alleviating the time and stress of manually verifying for themselves.”
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