Egyptian information design and data visualisation startup Giraffics has gained clients in the United States (US), Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and is expanding to Germany, with its platform that converts any type or form of data into an infographic video.
Whatever the data is, be it in the form of a pitch deck, sales presentation, company profile, research or even a book, Giraffics can turn it into an infographic video.
Sounds simple, but by filling a need like this the startup has proven devastatingly effective. It works with clients like Pfizer, PwC, Pepsico, and UNICEF, across not only Egypt but also Dubai, Saudi Arabia, San Francisco, and, soon, Germany.
Co-founder Abdulrahman Khedr told Disrupt Africa the company is also creating its own videos, starting with a series called 5 reason why startups fail. In total, Giraffics has around 30 clients – 45 per cent of which are returning customers – and has produced more than 250 minutes of infographic video.
Giraffics was spun out of content development company Axeer Studio, founded in 2012.
“We started with producing music videos changing the music scene in Egypt. Our aim was to produce viral online videos to tackle societal problems,” Khedr said.
“So we produced music videos to tackle sexual harassment, women empowerment, gender equality, the refugee crisis, the Somalia hunger crisis, and many other causes. We started with music videos in Egypt only, and now we cover most of the underground music scene in Lebanon and Jordan. Then we moved to documentaries about cancer and social experiments.”
In 2014, the company decided to enter the information design and data visualisation field, which led to the full launch of Giraffics earlier this year.
“Information and data is chaotically growing. We decided that with media and videos we can make information more accessible, more easy to understand, and more viral,” Khedr said. “So we decided that with art and research we’d be able to help more people understand this information.”
The previous success of Axeer Studio means Giraffics has had no need for investment, as it works from revenues and profits from its services and productions. Though operations are based in Egypt, the team has grown to include business developers in San Francisco. It is currently working on expanding into Germany.
