A Kenyan technology company that started after a simple newsroom error has grown into a global artificial intelligence platform serving more than 38,000 businesses in over 100 countries.

Brand AI, founded by Nairobi-based technology entrepreneur Santos Okottah, has launched a major update as it seeks to expand from a design application into a broader platform for managing and monitoring business brands.

The company says it now has 38,102 registered businesses, with 19,417 having completed full brand profiles and more than 32,700 designs created on the platform.

The United States is its largest market, followed by South Africa, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, China and Kenya.
Despite its international reach, Brand AI has been developed by a seven-member team based in Nairobi.

The company was born from Okottah’s experience as a web developer at Nation Media Group, where an edition of a newspaper was published with the previous day’s date still appearing on the masthead.

Although the stories and facts in the edition were correct, the mistake triggered a barrage of complaints.

For Okottah, the incident highlighted how a seemingly minor branding error could undermine the credibility of an organisation.
That experience later became the foundation for Brand AI, which seeks to help small businesses create and maintain consistent brands without having to rely on multiple expensive software platforms.

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

Users can type or speak a request, such as creating a social media post or promotional flyer, and receive several branded design options.

The platform also uses artificial intelligence to generate captions, product descriptions, blog posts and search engine optimisation keywords.

The latest update introduces new intelligence tools designed to help businesses monitor their brands and track issues such as brand perception, trust, competitor activity, online mentions and search visibility.

Another feature tracks what AI assistants and chatbots say about a business when customers search for information about its products or industry.

Okottah believes this so-called AI visibility will become increasingly important as consumers rely more on AI tools to discover businesses and products.

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

Brand AI says its users have created nearly 33,000 designs and delivered more than 4,500 business insights since its launch.
It currently has about 400 paying subscribers, with half of them 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.
Its platform is available on iPhone, Android and the web.

The free version provides basic branding and design tools, while paid plans start at $11.99 (about Sh1,550) a month.
Other plans include an Intelligence package at $15 a month and Teams subscriptions at $29 per seat.

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

He argues that businesses currently use separate applications for design, artificial intelligence-powered content creation, brand monitoring and search tracking, creating an opportunity for a single integrated platform.

The company estimates that its current seven largest markets could generate between $9 million and $12 million in annual recurring revenue at existing prices, before accounting for potential expansion, pricing changes or enterprise services.

For the Nairobi-based team, the international growth offers another example of a Kenyan technology company building a product for a global market from its home base.

Before founding Brand AI, Okottah 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 the latest version is now available across its mobile and web platforms.