Zambian startup Caantin is raising $4 million to build out its AI-powered voice infrastructure and enter new markets beyond Africa.
The company, which transitioned from a general AI solutions provider to a voice-first call centre automation platform just six months ago, is now placing itself as a key backend partner for banks, fintechs, insurers, and ISPs across the continent.
Before voice AI, there was data analytics, and before that, hospitality. Each pivot was a response to market challenges, but the voice AI play is different, revenue is climbing, and the business case is obvious.
With nearly $1 million in monthly revenue and projections of $10 million in ARR by the end of 2025, Caantin is betting that banks and financial service firms can’t afford to ignore voice-based automation.
The startup’s infrastructure now supports over one million calls per day. Clients include names like Carbon and Fairmoney. In fact, Carbon’s CEO, Chijioke Dozie, is also an investor in Caantin. And it’s not just about performance metrics; it’s about cost-cutting at scale.
Customer service, especially for loan recovery, is one of the most expensive and high-stakes operations in banking. “If these banks stop calling borrowers, they lose money,” said Njawa Mutambo, Caantin’s CEO. “But managing that operation is expensive and fragile. AI is not a nice-to-have. It’s essential for scale.”
Caantin’s pricing is aggressive. In Nigeria, it charges ₦185 per minute (about 12 cents)—which is nine times higher than local telecom operator rates. Yet, for financial institutions bleeding cash on sprawling customer service teams, the ROI more than justifies the premium.
One of its clients, Nigerian fintech Cowrywise, reportedly managed 100,000 customer calls in just three months using only one human staff, something that would normally require around 30 agents.
Caantin estimates a 933% return on investment and a 1.3-month payback period for businesses switching from human agents to voice AI.
Mutambo had previously raised $2.16 million for TopUp Mama, a procurement platform for restaurants across Kenya and Nigeria. That experience, deeply embedded in B2B logistics, local operations, and scaling infrastructure, appears to be impacting how Caantin is built.
Now, the company is planning to go beyond Africa. Its next major push is Latin America, where the cost of labour is higher, but the challenges of customer engagement are nearly identical. “In Brazil, the cost of call centre labour is around $2 per hour. In Nigeria, it’s closer to 25 cents,” Mutambo said. “So the ROI for AI is even stronger in LATAM.”
Brazil’s $262 minimum wage compared to Nigeria’s $46 only stresses the economic gap Caantin is looking to exploit. And in markets where businesses are desperate to improve margins, automation is now a means for sustainability.
Other companies like YC-backed Bland AI and Observe.AI are also building voice-first platforms. But few are adapting their systems to support African languages or integrate directly with regional fintech infrastructure like Paystack or Flutterwave. That’s where Caantin sees its edge.
“We are a telecoms business tailored to financial services. Their growth becomes our growth,” Mutambo explained. “By serving banks and fintechs, we are effectively hedged within a high-yield vertical.”
The company is developing advanced analytics to pull insights from voice data, turning it into a decision-making asset for clients. This positions Caantin as more than a call automation tool; it’s aiming to become a strategic enterprise layer across industries.
In a continent where under 1% of global AI research is produced, but where infrastructure inefficiencies are common, Caantin’s push for voice-first AI is timely and necessary. High illiteracy, low smartphone usage, and poor connectivity make voice far more inclusive than apps or chatbots.
The global call centre AI market is projected to grow from $1.6 billion in 2022 to over $7.5 billion by 2030. Caantin is angling for a piece of that, starting from Africa but with its eyes clearly fixed on bigger, more lucrative terrain.
