Simplifyd Systems Inc., a YCombinator-backed Nigerian startup aiming to become the platform of choice for data-free Internet access across Africa, has taken a giant step forward.

The company is announcing the launch of ZeroData, its toll-free internet application platform, to address the challenges associated with accessing affordable data in the face of the staggering rate of data consumption, particularly among mobile and web app users in Africa’s emerging markets. Tomi Amao, Mayowa Amao, Sam Keiru, and Abiola Fajimi founded the company in 2020.

YCombinator and Future Africa have both provided over $500,000 in pre-seed funding to the company.

According to Tomi Amao, co-founder and CEO of Simplifyd, ZeroData was founded out of a strong desire to solve Africa’s troubling data affordability problem, as well as a desire to support greater digital inclusion across the continent.

“ZeroData is intended to serve users with active data plans as well as those who do not have any.” When users use the application while they have an active data plan, their data plan is not depleted. Our app also allows users who do not have active data plans to have continuous access to the platform’s Internet apps.”

“For us, the realization that Africans pay the highest proportional to income rate for mobile internet in the world is concerning.” This is a significant challenge that we are excited to address long-term with the launch of ZeroData. Smartphone penetration in Africa is currently at 50%, and this figure is steadily rising. Because of the current realities surrounding data affordability, the market typically favors low data apps. “Through ZeroData, we are creating a convenient platform for the continent’s growing number of Internet users to access the Internet without the challenge of massive data consumption,” Amao concluded.

According to the CEO, all users will need to do is download the Zerodata app, which is available for both mobile (Android) and desktop (Windows) (MacOS and Windows). This gives them immediate data-free access to the listed apps and websites. The ZeroData platform also enables businesses to bundle data with their apps in order to make them more accessible and data-free to those who need it the most.

Data consumption is becoming a growing concern in Nigeria. According to reports, data from the Nigerian Communications Commission show that usage increased by 202.08 percent in three years – 2018, 2019, and 2020 – amidst rising data usage across Africa.

According to the GSMA, Nigeria had 53 million smartphone connections in 2018, with the number expected to rise to 154 million by 2025. Experts believe that mobile devices are driving the increase in data usage across Africa, with GSM accounting for a sizable portion of the market. The availability of fine-grained policies, which help organizations define who should have data-free access to their apps, how much data-free access each user gets, and how best to geolocate data-free access to users in a specific location, among other things, is a significant uniqueness of ZeroData.