MOMBASA, Kenya, Sep 9 — A Kenyan technology company born from a newsroom error has grown into an artificial intelligence platform serving more than 38,000 businesses across more than 100 countries.

Brand AI, founded by Nairobi-based technology entrepreneur Santos Okottah, is now expanding beyond its original focus on design into a broader platform for creating, managing and monitoring business brands.

The company says 38,102 businesses have registered on the platform, with 19,417 completing full brand profiles and users creating more than 32,700 designs.

The United States is its largest market, followed by South Africa, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, China and Kenya.

Despite its international reach, Brand AI is being developed by a seven-member team based in Nairobi.

The origins of Brand AI can be traced to Okottah’s experience as a web developer at Nation Media Group.

An edition of a newspaper was once published with the previous day’s date still appearing on its masthead. Although the stories and facts in the edition were correct, the mistake triggered a barrage of complaints.

The incident highlighted how a seemingly minor branding error could undermine an organisation’s credibility.

That experience later informed the development of Brand AI, which seeks to help small businesses create and maintain consistent brands without having to rely on multiple software platforms.

The company describes its product as a “Brand Operating System”, bringing design, content creation, brand monitoring and business insights together in one platform.

Brand AI allows users to type or speak requests for materials such as social media posts and promotional flyers, then generates several branded design options.

Its artificial intelligence tools can also produce captions, product descriptions, blog posts and search engine optimisation keywords.

The latest update pushes the platform further into brand intelligence, adding tools designed to help businesses monitor how their brands are performing and identify issues involving brand perception, trust, competitors, online mentions and search visibility.

One of the new features tracks what AI assistants and chatbots say about a business when consumers search for information about its products or industry.

The company expects this AI visibility to become increasingly important as consumers turn to AI tools to discover businesses and products.

The latest version also includes a redesigned editing interface, improved one-tap exports, clearer subscription management and navigation changes.

Brand AI says users have created nearly 33,000 designs and generated more than 4,500 business insights since the platform launched.

It currently has about 400 paying subscribers, with half of those customers signing up in the past month following changes to its pricing structure.

The company says it has grown largely through organic discovery and has not yet undertaken a paid marketing campaign.

The platform is available on iPhone, Android and the web.

The free version provides basic branding and design tools, while paid plans start at USD11.99 (about Sh1,550) a month. An Intelligence package costs USD15 a month, while Teams subscriptions are priced at USD29 per seat.

Brand AI is targeting a global small-business market that Okottah estimates at more than 330 million enterprises.

The company’s proposition is built around the idea that businesses currently use separate applications for design, AI-powered content creation, brand monitoring and search tracking.

Brand AI sees an opportunity to bring those functions together in a single platform.

The company estimates its current seven largest markets could generate between USD9 million and USD12 million in annual recurring revenue at existing prices, before accounting for expansion, pricing changes or enterprise services.

For a Kenyan technology company, the international footprint is significant: the product is being developed by a small Nairobi-based team while serving customers across more than 100 countries.

Brand AI is not Okottah’s first technology venture.

Before founding the company, he established Eziki TV, a video-on-demand streaming platform, and Evolve Interactive, a digital marketing and printing business.

He has also worked on technology projects for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s Kenya Climate Innovation and Jobs programme and consulted for the United Nations Environment Programme.

Brand AI says its latest version is now available across its mobile and web platforms.