Afriskaut

Afriskaut is a sports technology company based in Lagos, Nigeria, that identifies and verifies football talent across African academies, youth leagues and grassroots competitions. It converts hard-to-obtain match footage into statistical data on players and presents those profiles through a platform aimed at clubs, scouts, agencies and other football platforms worldwide. Alongside the data product, the company runs a consultancy that combines AI-selected player shortlists with on-the-ground scouting and access to academy decision makers, positioning itself as a way for recruiters to reduce the risk of signings made in Africa.

The company describes coverage built through partnerships with football leagues and clubs across the continent, and says it invests in cameras and helps organise leagues in order to capture data where none is otherwise recorded. Beyond football, the founders state that AI for basketball has been developed but that the supporting data-collection infrastructure does not yet exist, with expansion into basketball and other African sports planned after football is completed. A 2024 external profile described the platform as covering both football and basketball and connecting African athletes with scouts in Europe, the United States and Asia.

The founding team is described as engineers, designers, operators, a data scientist and a football agent. Listed members include Nnamdi Emefo (Founder, CEO), Ussa Buggu (Founder, Operations), Josh Osazuwa (Founder, Product & Design), Eby Emenike (Founder, FIFA player agent), Femi Ogunkola (Founder, Data Engineer) and software engineer Kenneth Simeon.

Founding story

Afriskaut grew out of Nnamdi Emefo's attempt to help a school friend from St. Gregory's College in Lagos find football opportunities abroad. When the friend moved to the UK and applied for trials, clubs asked for video and performance data that had never been recorded for the football the pair had played in Nigeria, leaving only a written 'football CV'. Emefo, then an electrical engineering student, taught himself software development in order to build a product that could evidence a player's ability. His friend later returned to Nigeria to co-found the company; the two funded early development from separate jobs, pooling money each month and gradually hiring a small team before going full-time.

Business model

Reported as B2B: sale of player data to clubs and agencies, plus agency services for player transfers. The company markets two offerings — a platform providing verified player data and statistics for scouting, and an advisory/consultancy service delivering recruitment insights that pair AI-selected talent with on-the-ground scouting.

Revenue is described as coming from B2B data sales to clubs and agencies and from agency services related to player transfers.

Traction

A 2024 profile reported 50+ players placed, 300+ clubs engaged, and data collected on 15,000 players across five leagues. The company's site states that hundreds of profiles on the platform have signed professional contracts, and cites player transfers to NS Mura in Slovenia and Precision FC in the UAE, an intermediary securing exclusive mandates for two players within two months of working with Afriskaut, and a client identifying a top-performing player in under 30 days.

Latest developments

The founder reports that the company was bootstrapped until early in the year of the interview, when it accepted investment from a small number of selected investors, and that the team stands at roughly 25 people with headcount deliberately held flat. Client work includes a large Spanish agency using the platform.